The Missing Ketchum
by RebeccaMagic9
Summary: Instead of getting to safety after being attacked by Spearow on route 1, Ash and Pikachu are brought to the Hall of Origin by Arceus, who sensed that neither of them would survive if he didn't interfere. Ten years later, everyone believes Ash to be dead, but, the Chosen One and is not dead quite yet...
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Prologue**

 **3** **rd** **person P.O.V.**

Ash was pedalling as fast as he could, attempting to shelter Pikachu from the storm raging around them. The Spearow were not letting up and Ash could feel blood dripping down his face and blurring his vision. They were thrown from the bike as they hit a rock. Ash picked up Pikachu in his arms and continued to run as fast as he could while shielding Pikachu, this made him unable to get anywhere.

Misty was chasing after Ash and the Pikachu as they had stolen her bike after pulling them from the river, but stopped in shock as she saw lightning hit the duo. The electrical surge lit the area up in pure white light, and she had to look away to shield herself from the blast.

When she turned back to see what remained, all she saw was a bike, charred and melted beyond recognition, fifty metres from where the boy had been, the flock of Spearow lying dead on the ground also a good fifty metres away from the impact spot. But, Ash and Pikachu were nowhere to be seen.

The only sign that they had ever been there was a few tufts of yellow Pikachu hair, and Ash's hat. Misty sunk to her knees at the destruction. She had escaped majorly unharmed, as she had been a good hundred metres away from the impact zone. A forty metre radius of pure obliteration was around where the powerful lightning strike had hit.

There was no way anyone could have survived such power if it had hit them dead on. She looked at the sky and saw it start to clear up. She collapsed, exhausted, and allowed herself to fade into unconsciousness.

Her mind was blank but a figure made its way into her dreamscape.

" _Misty. Misty. The boy survived. He is being cared for in the home of the legends. His name was Ash Ketchum. You must not tell anyone of his survival. That is crucial. When you wake up, the forest rangers will find you, and you must make it seem like you have been traumatised, as any normal girl your age would be after seeing a boy and his partner be obliterated from existence by a lightning bolt. You must not tell them about seeing me. Make your story believable and weave threads of truth into your story. The boy's mother will be inconsolable, help her through her time of trial. Spend time with her, I know that you do not get along with your sisters, Ash's mother will most likely take pity on you and take you under her wing, but this is good for her. It will help her move on. Professor Oak would happily take you under his wing as well_."

The figure faded after telling her this and one last thing echoed through her mind.

" _When the time is right, he will return, and all the world will learn of his survival. When this will be is a mystery to me, but he will not have changed past adulthood_."

Her dreamscape was silent after that.

When Misty awoke, a ranger had found her. She bolted upright to look at the destruction and started to hyperventilate. The ranger asked what was wrong and she took two deep breaths, as if to calm herself.

"A boy, who called himself Ash Ketchum, stole my bike near the river just before the storm hit, he had a Pikachu with him, and I chased after him. A flock of Spearow started to attack him and he got sent flying off of my bike and suddenly, he got hit with this huge flash of lightning. I looked away to shield myself, but when I looked back, he and Pikachu were gone! My bike was fifty metres away, melted, charred and completely wrecked, the Spearow were lying around, dead, but no sign of him or Pikachu. Just his smouldering hat over there," she paused to point at the hat, "and some tufts of yellow Pikachu hair. Then I passed out, and when I woke up, you had found me," Misty explained. The ranger helps her to her feet and leads her back to Viridian City where the incident was recorded.

Ash Ketchum was pronounced dead, and Delia Ketchum refused to believe it, as did Professor Oak each for their own reasons. Misty was taken in by the two of them as she did not what to go back to her sisters at all. Years passed and the Ketchum-Oak residence never forgot him. Gary became a Pokémon Researcher, Misty took back control of Cerulean City Gym so that her sisters could travel for their shows, Professor Oak did extensive research on both Pokémon and where Ash could be, but found nothing on Ash's location, and Delia just continued on with life, but mentioning anything about Ash was a walking mine field.

Almost ten years after Ash's 'death', almost everyone in town had forgotten the boy who slept in on his first day as a trainer. But, somewhere in Kalos, a girl named Serena saw a sight that she never would have expected to see.

 **Ash's P.O.V. (location: Hall of Origins)**

I woke in a daze after the lightning hit Pikachu and I, to see myself in a large bed with Pikachu nestled into my side. The ceiling was very high above me and was white, with gold swirls.

" _Ah, I see that you have woken, Chosen One. It gives me a great deal of happiness to see you alive and well,"_ a voice spoke out with. I bolted upright and Pikachu woke up as well and we turned to face Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon.

We were pushed to our limits every single day. I had six Pokémon including Pikachu, but excluding the legendry Pokémon that inhabited the Hall of Origins. My team consisted of Pikachu as our resident electric master and leader of the team, Lucario as our resident combat and aura master, Charizard as our resident motivator and fire type master, Greninja as our resident master of the ninja arts and all things water related, Sceptile as our resident grass type/path finder master/grass ninja, and finally, Gengar as our resident prankster and master of all things 'otherworldly'. Together, we are 'The Agents of Arceus'. By myself, I was 'the Peacekeeper'.

Thanks to my ancestor, Sir Aaron, being allowed to venture forward in spirit form to teach me about my aptitude for aura manipulation, I am capable of taking care of myself in more ways than one. I can control my aura and psychic powers, switch between the realms of the dead and the living thanks to Gengar teaching me how, fight like a demon in combat, have a high knowledge of the ninja arts and parkour, and can mega evolve over half my Pokémon, while another can unleash a form completely unknown to the scientific world, a form made possible through Synchro evolution, the higher form of mega evolution that has no need for the stones, and yet another is on an unmeasured scale of strength in the regular world. I hated the fact that I still needed to use the mega stones and the key stones to connect with my brothers but Lord Arceus says we are not quite ready yet.

Pikachu is like a brother to me now, more than that even, despite our un-promising start to our relationship. Lucario is like an older reprimanding brother, always making sure that none of us do anything stupid. Charizard is like a wild, un-tameable older brother that contradicts Lucario at every moment. Sceptile is like a wise, older brother, teaching us all about the small things in life that we often overlook. Gengar is the annoying younger brother who is pranking everyone to no end. Greninja is like my twin, we share the same hype for battling, and when we aren't battling, we're training, when we aren't doing training or battling, we both sit in the shadows, lying in wait for a task to complete. My Pokémon are my family, they are my brothers, our father-figure is Lord Arceus, our aunts and uncles are the other legendries, although at times they feel like our siblings, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It's been just over ten years since I started my training with Father Arceus, and he has finally announced us ready to return to the Mother-Plane. It has been so long, that I wonder if the people that we knew would even recognise us. I now had the looks of a twenty-year-old man. Long raven hair that went just past my shoulders, but was often tied in a ponytail, hardened brown eyes, tanned skin, and scars crisscrossing across my entire body. The worst ones were the ones on my face. They were deeply gouged on the day with the Spearow, the day that changed everything, and I had learned to deal with them, and I had grown up through adolescence with them, so they did not bother me much anymore. The worst scar of all was one that went from the left side of my fore-head and cut through my eyelid, eye, and my mouth.

At the time, my left eye had been useless and unable to see, until I mastered the art of seeing with normal vision in my working eye, and aura vision in my dead eye. With the gash going straight through my mouth, I had been unable to speak for a while until I got used to speaking again. My brothers aren't really any better. Gengar has a few deformities after trying to slip through the Distortion-Plane without Giratina's help, Pikachu had scars like mine from the Spearow, Sceptile has stress fracture scars in his claws and spines, which don't trouble him much, but it does give him aches from time to time, Charizard has a bunch of scars from too rough training as does Lucario who also has scars from failing to use aura sight correctly, and Greninja has scars from failed parkour runs and ninja arts skills.

Most of the time, I wear normal clothes. A blue/black/white jacket over a black shirt over black pants, black sneakers, black fingerless gloves with red edging (and key stone embedded in the left glove), and a red/white hat on my head **(A/N: Ash's regular Kalos clothes, re-sized to fit a twenty-year-old man but a bit more mature!)**. But during missions, I change my clothes over to either a ninja's most common getup, but in complete black and without a katana as I have yet to receive it, black and dark blue Aura Guardian robes and without an aura staff, as like with my katana, I've yet to receive it, or a black version of the Psychic's battle 'kimono' **(A/N: Basically a male version of the Japanese kimono but suited for battle)** without the power amplifying wrist cuffs that only the most powerful psychics use **(A/N: the bracelets that Sabrina is sometimes depicted wearing, the green/black ones, but for Ash they will be blue/black)** , which I have yet to receive just like with my katana and aura staff **.** No matter what I wear though, my hair is ridiculously long, reaching the bottom of my shoulder blades. It's down to about my shoulder blades. When I'm wearing non-mission clothes, it is usually just tied back loosely, while wearing my 'ninja outfit' as Greninja likes to call it, plus the other mission clothing, it is either tied back tightly and kept in place with a couple of dangerous weapons that I have been trained with or left out completely.

Today, I'm leaving for the Mother-Plane, or the world known as 'Earth'. My brothers and I have been training for this for years, wondering when we would get the chance to return to our mother-realm. The legendary Pokémon have gathered in the entryway of the Hall of Origins. Father-Arceus came over to my brothers and I, and spoke to us.

" _My sons, my precious boys. You have done well in your training, but you have one last test before you can receive your katana, your aura staff, and the amplifier cuffs. You truly are the best hopes for my creations, for all of them. I could not be prouder. Go, set your sights forward and journey forwards together, I shall tell you when you no longer need the stones, make new friends, and most of all, protect the innocent."_ I blushed slightly but I stepped towards the entryway. The legendries had lined either side of the entryway, leaving a path for us to walk down. We got to the door, the door that would lead to my final test, and I looked at my brothers. Gengar and Charizard, were on my right with Pikachu clinging onto my right shoulder, while Sceptile, Greninja and Lucario were on my left. Hesitating for a second, I decided that I would call back all of my brothers apart from Pikachu who still hated being inside a Pokéball.

After I had returned my brothers, I pushed open the doors to the Hall of Origins and stepped back into the Mother-Plane. More specifically, route 5, just outside Lumiose City, Kalos region…

 **A/N: Hello, fellow Pokémon fans! This is the prologue of my current Pokémon FanFiction: The Missing Ketchum. Warning: I do not know when I will next update. It may be tomorrow, or it may not be for months, just be patient. I try to have at least five chapters planned before publishing anything, so, yeah.**

 **At the moment, I am planning on Ash competing in a tournament later on in the story, but I am lacking the creativity to write enough OCs to compete. I have already written four of them, and I need 32 total. Along with Ash, maybe Serena and Gary, I only have five to seven trainers meaning I need another 25 to 27 OCs. If you want to submit one, send me a Private Message with it. The following are the rules for submission.**

 _ **1\. The OC must have six Pokémon of around eighth gym strength and older than the age of 12.**_

 _ **2\. The OC must be constructed using a certain 'OC form' which I will put below.**_

 _ **3\. I am only going to be accepting ONE mega evolving team in total from any one who puts forth an entry, all others will either be disregarded or they just won't mega evolve.**_

 _ **4\. I will only accept TWO ninja OCs, TWO psychic OCs, and TWO aura guardian OCs in total (martial artists do not count as ninjas/psychics/aura guardians).**_

 _ **5\. Synchro/Burst evolution will not be accepted, it is unique to Ash and his Greninja, no one else in the tournament get's to use it.**_

 _ **6\. If you are going to change the type of a Pokémon, keep it so that it makes sense for that Pokémon. (e.g. a Froslass that becomes Ice/fighting type after years of learning the martial arts from her trainer; a Mamoswine that becomes an Ice/Rock type after years of living in a rocky environment (these have already been used so no stealing)).**_

 _ **7\. Alola forms are allowed.**_

 _ **8\. Legendries are banned unless you can give me a very, very, very good reason why.**_

 _ **9\. You can have up to 25 moves for any one Pokémon. All moves must make sense for that Pokémon No Pidgeots learning dig, or Torkoals learning surf or extreme speed, it is not logical and I won't accept them.**_

 _ **10\. Everything else is fair game.**_

 _ **11\. You can enter more than one OC.**_

 **The OC Form is as follows;**

 **Name:**

 **Gender:**

 **Age:**

 **Home town:**

 **Physical appearance:**

 **Normal clothing:**

 **Talents:**

 **Personality:**

 **Backstory:**

 **Main Pokémon team:**

 **1.**

 **Species:**

 **Nickname:**

 **Gender:**

 **Special qualities:**

 **Move set:**

 **2.**

 **Species:**

 **Nickname:**

 **Gender:**

 **Special qualities:**

 **Move set:**

 **3.**

 **Species:**

 **Nickname:**

 **Gender:**

 **Special qualities:**

 **Move set:**

 **4.**

 **Species:**

 **Nickname:**

 **Gender:**

 **Special qualities:**

 **Move set:**

 **5.**

 **Species:**

 **Nickname:**

 **Gender:**

 **Special qualities:**

 **Move set:**

 **6.**

 **Species:**

 **Nickname:**

 **Gender:**

 **Special qualities:**

 **Move set:**

 **Other Pokémon in her care/living with him/her:**

 **KEEP IN MIND THAT I AM ONLY ACCEPTING 27 OCs IN TOTAL!**

 **Update: I just realised that I mucked up how I portrayed mega evolution throughout the story, and am now going through and fixing it. Hopefully it won't take long and will update soon.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

The moment that I had arrived back in the Mother-Plane, I instantly decided that I would head into Lumiose City, having felt a familiar, yet distant aura in the city itself.

The aura signature of one Gary Oak.

Speeding up, I hurried into the city, determined to find my childhood friend. That's when I saw them. A grown up Gary with an Umbreon at his side, an eighteen-year-old male blonde with a Bunnelby at his side, and a nine-year-old little blonde girl, most likely the blonde guy's little sister. They were all facing a quartet of gangsters. Two humans (one male one female), a talking Meowth and a Wobbuffet. A lone Froakie was fighting them, and not doing so well. None of them were doing very good so I decided to help them along a little bit. I released Gengar so that he could pull the Pokémon into a 'living death' trance. He did as I had asked. A half a minute later Gengar lost his hold on the two Pokémon and they re-appeared.

I stepped out into the open and let my powers run wild. I could feel my working eye blaze psychic blue. I nodded to Gengar and he mega evolved. I also released Greninja and he converted into his other form, the form that Lady Mew decided to call his 'Ash-Greninja' form as it makes him look like a Greninja version of me. From there, I engaged in a double battle with the infamous Rocket grunts that Father-Arceus has been keeping an eye on for years.

"Leave this place immediately, Rocket Grunts, or you will face punishment from the Lord and Father. As His son, I will not allow you to tarnish my Father's creation. Leave this place, or you will face the punishment for your crimes," I stated coldly. The grunts shivered at my tone, but they did not back down.

Sighing under my breath, I signalled my Pokémon to attack. Gengar and Pikachu had no trouble teaming up against the Meowth, while Greninja was having a little amount of trouble due to the Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat and Counter. When Greninja was hit with his Water Shuriken in his torso and shoulder, I felt it very clearly as if it were my own pain. I stumbled a little bit under the pain before I took a deep breath and figured out a way around Wobbuffet's pesky move set.

"Greninja, stop using your move pool. Remember your training. Use your ninja skills for this battle," I advised my brother. He nodded and dissolved himself into water molecules. Closing my eyes, I could trace Greninja's aura and saw the damage he was inflicting on the Wobbuffet. When I opened them again, it was when Greninja had assumed a physical form again and had been hit with an attack. From where, I didn't know, but the pain was only just bearable for both of us. The battle was soon over and the Rocket grunts had to retreat, Greninja reverted back to his normal form and we both collapsed with the pain.

Gary just stared at me and I remembered about my good eye. As the glow faded, a look of faint recognition washed over him.

"Ash? Is, is that really you?" he asked uncertainly. I nodded.

"Yes, Gary, it really is me. I'll explain later, when I'm not in a hoard of pain. Just grab Greninja and Gengar for me so that I can keep myself upright. Grab that Froakie too, can't let that little guy not get the help he deserves" I told him. The blonde haired guy just looked around.

"The closest Pokémon centre is too far away…" he said but the girl just perked up.

"But we could go to the Sycamore Pokémon Labs!" she suggested happily. I nodded and gestured for her to lead the way. She picked up the injured Froakie and started running while I followed with Pikachu on one of my shoulders, and Greninja leaning on my other shoulder for support. Gary helped Gengar up carefully and followed as well. The other boy just grabbed their stuff before attempting to run after us. The girl stopped for a moment to wait for her brother.

"Clemont, go faster!" she told him impatiently.

"I'm running as fast as I can. Don't wait for me, Gary, keep going, I'll catch up with you!" he panted. The girl sighed before continuing on.

"I can't believe how slow my brother is. Come on, it's this way!" she told us.

We eventually got there and once Clemont had caught up to us, we all sat down as Froakie, Gengar and Greninja were getting healed, and I decided to introduce myself to those who didn't know me.

"My name is Ash Ketchum. I'm a Kanto native, but I've been elsewhere for the past ten years," I told them. Gary snorted before shaking his head.

"Ash, everyone thinks that you're dead. Where have you been for the past ten years, anyway? Your mum hasn't gotten over loosing you, neither has gramps. Also, you have an adoptive sister now," he protested.

"Gary, I already know that. I guess that I really should explain. But first, you are going to need some background information. Do you know about the dimensional shift theory?" I replied. He nodded, as did everyone except for the girl, who had yet to introduce herself.

"Well, the Dimensional Shift is actually really important to how the world develops and how it reacts to certain events. Most humans and Pokémon live on what's called the Mother-Plane. On the underside of the Mother-Plane, is the Distortion-Plane. These two planes support each other. Without the Distortion-Plane, the Mother-Plane would implode. Whereas with the Distortion-Plane, it is the opposite way round. Without the Mother-Plane, the Distortion-Plane would explode. The Time-Plane and the Space-Plane circle the Mother-Plane and the Distortion-Plane, always completely opposite each other, otherwise, disaster occurs. Then, there is the Father-Plane, more commonly known as the Hall of Origins. The Hall of Origins surrounds all of the other Planes, without it, there would be no life at all. It is also what keeps the Time and Space Planes separate from each other.

"These past ten years, I have travelled through the different Planes, some for longer than others. I only visited the Mother-Plane a few though, to visit Lady Mew in the Tree of Beginnings, which I was unauthorised to leave until my lessons with her Ladyship were done before going to learn from another being on another Plane of existence, and a few times to do protection duty alongside some of the other legendries. I'm sorry that I let everyone believe that I was dead…" I explained. Gary nodded and the siblings introduced themselves.

"I'm Bonnie! And this is my big brother!" the girl told me.

Her brother rolled his eyes slightly before introducing himself. "My name is Clemont, it is a pleasure to meet you." I nodded in reply. And he continued on.

"Your Gengar and Greninja went through a transformation on the battle field and changed back after wards. What was that?" Clemont asked. The professor lit up at that and asked if it was Mega Evolution.

"Yes, partially. My Gengar is able to mega evolve, but the transformation that Greninja went through was not Mega Evolution. It wasn't even a type of evolution to begin with. I have three other Pokémon that can mega evolve. A Charizard, a Lucario, and a Sceptile.

"What Greninja does is completely different. What Greninja does is a transformation that only occurs when the aura, soul, and spirit between trainer and Pokémon truly becomes one. It is the step above mega evolution and extremely hard to achieve. The last person achieve this bond was a ninja and his Greninja eight hundred years ago," I explained to them. Professor Sycamore was looking extremely happy at this and I put it down to him having studying mega evolution for years.

"May I see your Pokémon mega evolve?" he asked me. I nodded.

"Sure, but not in here. Aura waves get quite strong after Lucario mega evolves so I think it would be best if we went outside," I told him. We moved outside and just as I was about to have Lucario Mega Evolve, a blast came from inside and I recalled my Pokémon immediately. We ran inside to find the Professor's Garchomp with a collar around its neck and the quartet from earlier trying to control it. I closed my good eye to fully activate my aura sight, and what I 'saw' disgusted me.

The collar was one that was supposed to force Garchomp to do whatever the Rocket grunts wanted him to do. My eye snapped open though when Gary pushed me over. I glared at him for a moment before turning my attention to the Rocket grunts. I charged up an aura sphere and launched it straight at them, sending them flying into the sky.

I turned back to Garchomp just in time to see him start his rampage. Within seconds, he had flung himself out the window and stared destroying everything in his path. I stared after him and had to hold Gary back from running after the rampaging Pokémon.

"Gary, stop. You can't help him. Everything will be alright though. You have to trust me," I told him. He whirled on me and started shouting in my face. Once he started to slow down I started to make out the words.

"—and you had the nerve to close your one good eye as if waiting for death! If I hadn't pushed you out of the way, you would have become Miltank feed!" I slapped him hard so that he would shut up.

"That is enough, Gary! For once in your life, just listen to me! Garchomp will be fine. I will personally make sure of that. I only closed my eye to get a better view on the situation, you pushing me made me loose concentration which actually gave me backlash that is going to give me migraines until tomorrow morning. Like I said, you can't do anything for Garchomp right now. You are no use to him in the state you're in, both physically and mentally. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go save Garchomp," I told him in a commanding way. I turned tail into one of the back rooms and used one of my ninja skills 'Ninja Leaf Shroud' to teleport to a back alley near Garchomp's position. Closing my eye again, I fully activated my aura sight to lock onto Garchomp's exact position.

After pinpointing it, I started to run towards Prism Tower, snuck inside the building and got onto a ledge on the exterior of the building. Thankfully, my instincts were right about Garchomp being on the ledge. After gaining his attention, I slowly walked towards him, so not to threaten him.

"Garchomp, it is okay to admit that you are in pain right now. If you couldn't feel the pain I would be worried for you. But, you have to trust me. The only thing here that is hurting you is that collar. Just let me help you, and you will be alright. There is no need to go on this rampaging path that you have chosen. Just let me help you," I told the distressed Pokémon. I could sense helicopters flying around the building, most likely trying to pick up on what I was saying to Garchomp. I glanced out at the crowd and saw Gary with Froakie at his side, Clemont and Bonnie down below, and the moment I looked back to Garchomp, he was flying upwards towards the top of the tower. Looking around, I saw a ladder melded into the side of the tower and started climbing it without hesitation. Once I had reached the top, I got Pikachu to focus on getting an opening to use Iron Tail on the collar. We would have one chance, especially since Garchomp's Hyper Beams were making the area unstable.

"Garchomp, you need to listen to me. I won't let anything happen to you, everything will be fine. You just have to trust me," I told Garchomp desperately trying to get him to calm down enough. Once Garchomp had a lapse in control from the collar, I latched onto him, keeping his limbs out of the way so Pikachu could destroy the collar. Thankfully, Pikachu hit the mark and Garchomp sunk to his knees, suffering from the aftermath of the collar's control. Pikachu cried out happily and began to come over to where I was with Garchomp, but, the floor underneath Pikachu gave out and Pikachu began his falling descent.

Panicking, I jumped of the building after Pikachu, hoping to save my brother, even if it meant sacrificing my own life, I didn't think I would have the strength to go on without him, the brother that has been by my side from the beginning. Nor did I think I would ever be able to stop mourning. On the way down, I heard multiple screams and gasps, but my mind cleared and calmed itself enough to allow me to remember my psychic abilities.

Allowing myself to tap into my psychic power reserves, I began to slow down my descent, stopping it completely within a few seconds. No doubt that many people were surprise by this. Then, I let myself float downwards and landed gently on my feet. Gary rushed up to me and tackled me, but, thanks to my own power still lingering in my body, which in turn strengthened me, I was able to stay upright.

"Ash Ketchum! What were you thinking!? Jumping off a tower like that!" he yelled at me after detangling himself from me, but I chuckled in reply.

"Well, Gary, I was thinking that it would better to be me dying than my brother, Pikachu. I was thinking that at least I would die nobly. I was thinking that it would be a good idea, after all, I jumped off structures ten times that height for training warm ups, and for actual training I jumped off structures a thousand times that height. Is that not okay?" I replied innocently. Gary just chuckled in reply and shook his head.

"No, it is NOT okay to do such things. It scared me half to death! Imagine what your mum would do to me if I told her that I found you after all these years only to let you jump off a building and fall to your death. She would KILL me!" he screeched in my ears. I chuckled and replied with a snarky response.

"But, I didn't fall to my death, I fell to my safety. So she can't exactly kill you. Besides, I'm the one who found YOU not the other way around," I snorted at the end of it as well. We blinked at each other, before bursting out laughing. Spectators just looked on in amusement and confusion. Reporters tried to get an interview with me, but, Gary used his junior Professor status to tell the media to back off, that combined with Professor Sycamore's status, the media was thoroughly intimidated with all the prosecution threats.

When we got back to the lab, we all just crashed asleep, except for Gary and I who were talking to each other in the moonlight.

"Ash, I'm sorry for how badly I used to treat you when we were kids. When we started our journeys, I was arrogant because I had been privileged enough to have Gramps as the regional professor. When I got to the Indigo league, I lost in the second preliminary round, so I moved onto Johto, but I still lost in the first official round. It had taken me two years to get to that point, and I hadn't thought about you for a very long time so when I returned to Pallet Town to say sorry to you, I couldn't find you. Then I went over Gramps Lab and found your mum crying hysterically and Gramps comforting her. When your mum had gone home, I asked Gramps where you were and what was wrong with your mum. That's when I found out about you being dead. Your mum is stuck in a mental minefield. Anytime she is reminded of you by something random, she breaks down into a sobbing mess. I decided that I wanted to be a professor for two reasons. The first was because I wanted to study Pokémon, but the second was because I wanted to help Gramps with your mum. We all miss you, sure, some have forgotten what happened to you, but that doesn't matter because they remember that it's because of you being gone that your mum is the way she is," Gary explained. I sighed before opening up.

"Gary, I don't know what to say. I forgive you for what you did, but I can't forget it. You had every right to be proud about having Professor Oak as our Gramps, but I was just jealous of that and a bit put out because you seemed so much better than me. Thank you for helping my mum when she needed help, and I'm sorry that you had to do that.

"I missed you all too, I didn't have much human contact at all during the past ten years. I mainly interacted with a researcher who found a way to get into the Distortion-Plane, and the ghost of Sir Aaron.

"The guy in the Distortion-Plane is a bit wacko and is difficult to hold a conversation with for long without him going loco over something he remembered about the Distortion-Plane. The Ghost of Sir Aaron is alright, but he fades in the middle of a conversion sometimes, and he was really only around to help me control my aura, besides, most of the time we just talked about different methods of using aura, but I learned a bit about his past, but whenever I talked about my life, he got confused easily. All in all, I got lonely because I couldn't really talk to anyone around me. My Pokémon brothers helped of course, but I still longed for a human friend whom would understand the things I would talk about without them going loco. Can you forgive me for not letting you guys know that I was still alive?"

I knew that I had rambled, but Gary didn't seem to mind. He nodded wordlessly and we stared at the moon for a while.

"You know what? This reminds me of the time I helped Cresselia and Darkrai settle their differences," I told Gary. His eyes widened at hearing me say that I had met them outright. I chuckled before continuing. "Yeah, I've met them. Darkrai had just stopped a fight between Palkia and Dialga, Cresselia was just flying through the skies, doing her job of giving the Mother-Plane moonlight, and they crossed paths with each other. My teacher had asked me to help Cresselia keep watch that night and we found Darkrai in a street, almost dead. Cresselia and Darkrai talked almost the entire time about their infancy with each other, but got separated because Darkrai started spreading bad dreams without meaning to which Cresselia claimed was bad for her reputation. It is because I spotted Darkrai, that those two re friends again, despite their differences." Gary nodded before speaking up.

"So, in a way, the way that we were reunited with each other and the events following remind you of how they reconciled with each other?" I nodded in reply. I turned away from the window and told Gary that I was going to bed. Gary nodded and yawned.

"Maybe you should too," I told him with a chuckle. He nodded and we went to bed.

 _~Meanwhile, in Vaniville Town, 3rd person P.O.V.~_

"Whew. That's a relief," a girl named Serena stated after seeing the Garchomp crisis on TV.

"Isn't it just? That man is very lucky that someone had a psychic Pokémon on site to stop his fall," her mother replied. The image on the screen changed to a close up of two men. One being the one that fell from the building. What was more, Serena recognised both of them.

"No, it's not possible," she breathed.

Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak. The boy who saved her at summer camp, and the rising Pokémon Professor.

 _~Back to Ash and the others, Ash's P.O.V.~_

When we woke up the next morning, we left easily, Gary having decided to travel with me, as had Clemont and Bonnie. We told the professor that Gary and I were planning on taking on the gym challenge and going to the Santalune city gym. The Froakie from the day before had decided to travel with Gary, as such, I could tell it was spirited to say the least.

We had to first talk to Professor Oak about me being alive before going anywhere. The plan was that Gary would open the call and ask his Gramps to get my mum to come to the phone, from there, it would just be a matter of me walking over and revealing my survival. So far, Gary was on the phone to his Gramps and I could tell that he was slightly nervous. Watching from a distance, I saw my mum walk into vision and she didn't look good. Time for the next step of the plan.

"Gary! Would you mind getting your Umbreon to stop attacking Charizard!?" I called out to him.

"What are you talking about?" he called back. I walked over to him, slowly.

"Your Umbreon is attacking my Charizard. Charizard hates getting the creepy dark type chills and will most likely go and burn down the Pokémon Centre soon if you don't go and call off your Umbreon. So for the sake of the surrounding civilians, please go and restrain your Pokémon," I stated to him. Mum was staring at me carefully, as if she was trying to figure out who I was.

"Fine, Ketchum, but that monster of yours needs to be taught a lesson," Gary told me icily.

"Ah, but 'that monster' as you called my brother Charizard, was trained by legendary class Pokémon. You would have some trouble teaching him anything," I told him.

"Oh, shut up, Ash," Gary retorted before walking off to 'recall' Umbreon. Chuckling at his receding form, I turned to face the two people on the line.

"Hey there Professor Oak! How's the lab been doing for the past ten years?" I asked the Kanto professor.

"Ash? You, you're alive? How?" he tried to get out.

"Oh, how am I alive? Same way as anyone else I guess, I was born and have yet to die. The question is, why I am I back," I answered in a round-a-bout way.

"Ash! My baby boy is alive!" mum cried out.

"Yes, mum, I am alive. Have been for twenty years. Sorry for not letting you know about me being alive, I just got caught up with stuff," I told them both.

"Ash, where have you been?" Professor Oak asked me.

"Well, after I got attacked by the Spearow flock, I got struck by lightning, but it wasn't normal lightning as I later found out. Through that, I was taken to safety alongside Pikachu. When I woke up, I was in the Father-Plane. For the next ten years up until now, I have been training in aura and psychic powers alongside my Pokémon brothers. We travelled throughout all the different Planes, only stopping in the Mother-Plane once for tutelage from Lady Mew, during which I was forbidden to have any contact with the outside world. Now, I was told to return to the Mother-Plane to help protect it from any and all threats," I explained.

"You, you, have information on the dimensional shift theory! Ash! You have to tell me all about it!" Professor tried to continue on but Gary had come back.

"Ash! Umbreon was doing nothing wrong. He was hiding in a hole covered by a rock while that monster of yours was using a sustained flamethrower on my partner!" Gary accused me.

"Actually, that isn't true and you know it. You liar. Trying to get me into more trouble than I am already in," I defended myself. He sighed and gave up.

"Why do I even bother to argue with you? It is not like I would gain anything. Also, I thought you said you were living in the Reverse-Plane? Which is it?" I chuckled.

"Ah! I woke up in the Father-Plane, true, I spent much of my training time between the Reverse-Plane and the Father Plane. So I practically had a home in both. Then again… no, I don't think I will divulge that information. Hmm, alright, Professor Oak, let me tell you something important about dimensional shift 'theory' as you call it. The Mother-Plane and Reverse-Plane keep each other in balance, when the Time-Plane and the Space-Plane don't stay opposite each other disasters occur, and the Father-Plane surrounds and keeps the other Planes in proportion with each other, but the Planes are alive. Everything is changing, shifting, moving, always continuing forward. Nothing is constant. In another time-line, perhaps I would have died that night, perhaps I would have gotten a different starter and avoided the situation completely. You have to watch your back when traveling through the different Planes though as it can be dangerous," I told them. Professor Oak was furiously writing down everything I was saying, while mum was just crying with happiness.

"Sorry to cut this short, but if we want to get to the next town before dark, we need to get going," Clemont told us from where he was trying to get Bonnie to calm down. Quickly saying goodbye to my mum and Professor Oak, during which I promised to call them and explain things a lot clearer, Gary and I made our way over to Clemont and Bonnie.

"So, we are all going to travel together? This is going to be interesting," I stated once we got on the road.

"What do you mean Ashy-boy?" Gary asked me.

"Well, one Pokémon researcher, one inventor/electric type trainer, one midget dreaming of becoming a trainer, and one guy believed to be dead in charge of protecting the world, are traveling together. Knowing my luck, we'll be in the middle of some sort of conflict before we reach the first gym. Father was always saying that I'm a magnet for trouble, a magnet that not even Zekrom can demagnetize. Sir Aaron actually agreed with Father, saying I got in more trouble than he did. Which is kind of saying a lot because Sir Aaron stopped a war by sacrificing his life," I told them. Gary got confused at me saying 'Father' and started spluttering.

"Your dad? You actually met your dad? No one knows who your dad even is including your mum!" Gary started saying.

"Gary! Stop making a fool of yourself. Lord Arceus is a father figure to my Pokémon brothers and I. as such, I call him 'Father' and he calls me 'son' or in political meetings, I call him 'Lord' and he calls me 'Chosen One'. But yes, I do know who my biological father is. Unfortunately, I have no desire to form any sort of bond with him. He is exactly the sort of person I do not want to become. I am glad my aura comes from mum, and my psychic talents come from Father Arceus' blessing. There is no way I want to acknowledge being related to that despicable excuse for a human being," I told them, chuckling slightly at the start, before turning down a dark train of thoughts as I remembered figuring out who my biological father was.

"You figured out who your dad is?" Gary asked.

"Yes. He is a criminal. In fact, he is the head of one of the biggest illegal organizations in the world, the one I made a personal mission to bring to its knees at the age of twelve. Team Rocket," I answered trying to rein in my anger.

"A criminal? Well that certainly explains how not even your mum knows who your dad is," Gary told me.

"Yeah. When I get my hands on him and turn him in to the police, I'm going to make sure they know exactly what sort of damage he has done to the world. He is a rapist, crime lord, Pokémon thief, he mistreated gym leader duties, murdered, plus a lot of other disgusting things," I revealed. Gary was shocked by what I had revealed, Clemont looked at me with loathing for saying that around Bonnie while still shocked that someone like that would exist, and Bonnie was just confused.

"Ash! Don't say things like that around Bonnie!" Clemont criticized me.

"Just telling the truth. Besides, I don't think that she even knows what that means," I defended.

"What does rape mean, Clemont?" Bonnie asked. Chuckling, I squatted down onto my haunches.

"Bonnie, rape is a very bad thing that a person does to another. What it means is something that is not appropriate for someone your age to know. I didn't learn what it really meant until I was twelve, and that was still far too young for me to understand. Rape is something that I consider to be the lowest of the low, far worse than killing someone, far worse than stealing a Pokémon, far worse than a lot of other things. I want you to promise me that you will never rape anyone," I told her very seriously.

"Sure. If it is the worst thing on the planet, I have no problem not doing it. I promise that I won't do that stuff," Bonnie promised.

"Thank you, Bonnie, that means a lot to me," I told Bonnie.

"Nice save, Ash," Gary muttered.

"Shut it, Gary. I may be brutally honest with those who are legally adults, but I know that a kid Bonnie's age doesn't need to understand the true horrors of the world, only enough to put the name of the crime with being a bad thing to do," I snapped back, too low for Bonnie to hear.

We continued on our way until night fall and stopped in a Pokémon centre for the night.

 _~Meanwhile, in Lumiose City, 3rd person P.O.V.~_

"Hello, anyone here?" Serena called out as she walked into the lab.

"I'm up here!" Professor Sycamore called out from the top of the stairs.

"I saw this news report about how this man saved a Garchomp," Serena started.

"Oh, you mean Ash? He and his friends left earlier today after he gave me some more subjects and theories that relate to my field of research. He said that he and his friend, Gary, were going to challenge the Santalune City gym," the professor told her.

"Santalune Gym," Serena whispered. "Professor, can I get a Pokémon please?" she asked.

"Sure. Sophie, bring out the starters please," he replied. A Froakie, a Fennekin and a Chespin all bounded out through an open door.

"Here is your Kalos Region Pokedex," the professor told her while giving her the red machine. Serena tested it out on all three starters before standing up.

"So, have you made up your mind?" the professor asked her.

"You see, I already knew who I wanted before I left the house," Serena told him while walking forward a few steps, "Fennekin, I choose you. Hi, I'm Serena!" Fennekin looked at her warily before jumping into her arms.

"Well, Serena, you might as well stay the night. It'll be dark soon and there's no point in going out now," the Kalos Professor told her. Nodding, Serena entered a guest room and settled down for the night.

The next morning, Serena raced off as fast as she could with Fennekin racing alongside her. It didn't take her all that long to get to Santalune City.

 _~back to Ash and the others, Ash's P.O.V.~_

"Well, we are finally here," Gary announced as we walked into the city.

"Yeah. If my senses are correct, we should head down to the right to get to the gym," I added.

"Ash, let's just explore a little bit first. Bonnie needs to get to know Dedenne better. We can go to the gym a bit latter," Gary protested.

"Hmm. I have the perfect compromise. We head to the gym, one of us has a gym battle, before having lunch and bonding time with all our Pokémon, before the other has their battle after lunch. That way, we all get what we want," I suggested. Everyone grinned at my suggestion and I knew that it had been accepted.

"Seriously, when did you get so mature again? I remember you as an immature overexcitable kid dead set on being a Pokémon Master. You aren't supposed to be so, so, mature. It doesn't make sense to me," Gary told me.

"One must be mature to keep sane in the Halls of Origin. The legends often fight over trivial matters and it takes much patience to put up with them. After ten years of dealing with them, I have had to be mature for too long, but I was also the least mature before we parted ways," I replied vaguely, not really wanting to state the reason why I had gone from an over-excitable kid, to a mature and chilling adult metaphorically overnight. Not being surrounded by so many people had changed me quite a bit.

Gary introduced Clemont, Bonnie and I to Alexa, a Pokémon journalist when we met up in front of the gym. We went inside and Gary went first. He had three Pokémon to choose from. Umbreon, Froakie, and Fletchling.

"Well, this is going to be a two on two battle. We let each other know what Pokémon we will be using beforehand. I will be using a Surskit and a Vivion," Viola explained to Gary as they lined up on the field.

"Sure, I'll be using Fletchling and Umbreon," Gary responded.

It was halfway through the battle that a girl I faintly recognised walked in. Bonnie called her over and she ended up watching the rest of the battle with us after introducing herself as Serena.

"That was incredible. I can't even begin to think of how much training must have done to pull of some of those manoeuvres!" Serena gushed.

"You have no idea. My battle is after lunch. Speaking of my battle, Viola, my Pokémon were trained by actual legendary Pokémon such as the Eon Duo, would it be all right if I had a full six on six battle with no handicaps?" I replied while getting rules set up with Viola.

"I suppose so, but I want to get photos after," Viola conceded.

Once I cleared that up, we all went out to the battle field and I decided to introduce myself properly to Serena.

"Well, I really should introduce myself properly. My name is Ash Ketchum. I'm a trainer that is aiming to get criminals locked away for good. The getting badges thing is just for something to do between jobs," I told her before calling out my brothers, "And these are my brothers, Charizard, Sceptile, Lucario, Greninja, Gengar, and Pikachu." All six of them looked at each other suggestively before turning their gaze on me.

"Fine. Charizard vs Lucario, Pikachu vs Gengar, Sceptile vs Greninja vs me," I told them while getting into a fighting stance. Serena stepped back and I mentally counted down from three, we all launched ourselves at each other, and we fought each other. Greninja and Sceptile were ganging up on me, but I didn't care, I could manage both of them. I had snapped a branch off a nearby tree to use as a crude staff to block physical and special attacks that I wouldn't be able to dodge or deflect with Psychic or Aura. I attacked with my makeshift staff, Aura spheres, and psychic strategies.

I heard the others whispering as they watched on.

"Does he always go this hard?" Serena asked Gary.

"No idea. I've only been traveling with him for two days now, for ten years before that, everyone thought he was dead," Gary replied.

"Ash is awesome," Bonnie whispered to Clemont.

"Yeah, he sure is, I just wish I had that sort of strength though," Clemont replied.

It took me an hour before I managed to end the fight, which was reasonable as my other brothers decided to join in the fight as well.

"I win, brothers," I stated calmly.

They nodded in agreement and we all sat down to eat. Charizard was feasting on a ten kilogram cut of meat and drinking liquid fire. Lucario was eating Aura berries and drinking dew from the branches of the Tree of Beginnings. Sceptile was eating a range of berries and drinking purified water from the lake that was home to Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. Gengar was eating Soul berries and drinking liquid shadows. Greninja was eating berries and two Remoraid while drinking water purified by Kyogre. Pikachu was eating a mixture of Cheri berries and Electra berries and drinking the weirdest drink of all, a whole bottle of ketchup.

I on the other hand, ate a balanced lunch of salads, a lean steak, and fresh water.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen anything eat that much meat in one go before," Clemont commented.

"That's nothing. Hey, Charizard! Do you think you could fit a fifty?" I replied. Charizard nodded and I walked over to my backpack where there was a fifty-kilogram block of meat. After positioning it on my shoulder, I placed it in front of Charizard and he dug in, eating it in only five bites.

"That's… impossible. Your Pokémon are impossible," Clemont stated once the meat had all disappeared down Charizard's gullet.

"No, they are simply well trained with very fast metabolisms. They are not at their peak though. I reckon that will come in around another ten to twenty years of training. They are strong, yes, but that is because each one of them, bar Pikachu, was pushed to the limits of their primary evolution while holding an everstone until they could defeat a pseudo legendary before evolving, then they trained even harder to be able to defeat a middle class legendary such as Cresselia or Mesprit before evolving. Then, they had to work even harder to defeat a major legendary, such as Giratina, before we started with mega evolution. Pikachu on the other hand has been training ever since we started this kind of life to defeat major and higher level legendries," I explained while digging out another twenty-kilogram slab of meat which Charizard chomped up in two bites before rocking backwards and burping out a flamethrower.

After lunch, we had returned to the battlefield and Viola seemed raring to go, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Let's get this going," she sang out.

"Let's," I replied.

"Masquerain, let's do this!" she called out.

I smirked. It would be just too easy.

"Gengar, through shadows and darkness, let's make this a spectral fight!" I chanted in a monotone that sounded creepy and made everyone shiver. Gengar appeared in a flash of light before melting into the shadows.

"Battle begin!" the referee announced.

"Gengar, Dark Void!" I ordered.

"Masquerain, dodge!" was Viola's response, but it came too late for them. Dark Void had already taken hold and Masquerain was stuck in a fitful nightmare filled dream.

"Take hold with Dream Eater!" was my command. Just like that, Viola had lost the first round.

"Masquerain is unable to battle! Gengar wins! Gym leader Viola, send out your next Pokémon!"

"Ugh! Masquerain, return! You're strong, Ash, but my gym leader pride is on the line. You won't be getting any further. Ledian, you're up!" Viola told me while releasing a Ledian.

"In that case, Gengar, return. You did awesome. Sceptile, for the forest and the fields, protect the green grass pride!" I announced while recalling Gengar and releasing Sceptile onto the field.

"Ledian, use Bug Bite!" Viola commanded. I smirked.

"Jump," was my simple command. The Bug Bite completely missed Sceptile. When Sceptile landed I didn't miss a beat.

"Sprint," I stated and Sceptile took off in a flash of speed.

"Ledian, use Sky Drop!" Viola commanded.

"Not happening. Dragon Breath!" I countered.

"Dodge it, Ledian!" Viola screeched, but, like with Masquerain, she was too late. Dragon Breath had hit and taken out another one of her Pokémon.

"Ledian is unable to battle, Sceptile wins! Gym Leader Viola, please send out your next Pokémon!" the referee announced.

The battle passed quickly. Viola's Butterfree fell to Lucario. Her Beautifly was defeated by Charizard. Her Vivollion was thrashed by Greninja. And her Mega Bedrill was humiliated by Pikachu.

"Mega Bedrill is unable to battle, Pikachu wins! So, the match goes to Ash, the challenger," the ref announced.

"Take a good rest, Bedrill. You did great," Viola murmured.

"You know, it's not your fault that you lost, Viola. The trainer that prepares for the Caterpie will be brought down by the Fearow. You just weren't expecting to be caught off guard like that so you didn't plan accordingly," I commented.

"Thanks for the advice, Ash, I'll remember that. Here is the Bug Badge," she replied.

"Thanks. I appreciate it," I thanked her.

After my brothers had their photos taken by Viola (as per our agreement), and we finished having dinner and resting up over night at the Pokémon centre, we (Gary, Clemont, Bonnie, Serena and I) walked outside and I turned to face Serena.

"So, Serena, what's your plans moving forward?" I asked her.

"Um…" she trailed off. Nudging her mind slightly, I found the reason. She and I had met as children and she had developed a crush on me, thus wanting to travel around with me. Interesting. What was more interesting though, was that she had a great potential to be a psychic.

"Because you could travel with us if you wanted to? Traveling in groups is safer, and a lot less boring. Besides, if you travel with people who have experience, you learn new things faster. Like having a teacher teaching you instead of trying to figure it out on your own is faster," I offered.

"Thank you, Ash. I think that I'll take you up on that," she sighed. Smiling at her warmly, I turned to get onto the road, but Serena stopped me.

"Do you even know where you're going next though?" she asked.

"No, not really. I was planning on heading for the next gym, but there are quite a few gyms so I could go practically anywhere for a gym battle," I replied.

"Why don't you go to the Cyllage City? They're known for their race tracks and rock climbing walls right on the beach front," Serena offered. I pondered that for a moment and nodded.

"That sounds like a plan. If my memory serves me correctly, that would mean we would have to backtrack to Lumiose City, pass through Camphrier Town and Ambrette town before heading up the coast to Cyllage City. I reckon that journey could be done within a week depending on how many delays are put in place," I offered and she nodded.

"Yeah, that's right," Serena nodded.

Bonnie jumped up between us, "Well, let's get going!"

"Yes! There's this really cute boutique that I've been wanting to go to in Lumiose City for years now, come on, come on, there is no time to waste!" Serena urged.

~Arceus's P.O.V. Hall of Origins~

Well, my son, you have gained some truly amazing friends. Serena will be a wonderful partner for you, but you must teach her how to unlock her true power, it is essential. Bonnie would be a wonderful young ninja with your tutelage, I hope you see that soon. Clemont will be of great help throughout your journey, he is not one you should write off as 'weak' because he has little aptitude for the three powers. Gary Oak would be a great Aura Guardian if you showed him the path.

Their fate lies in your hands, my son, my chosen one…

 **A/N: Okay, so that was Chapter 1. Ash returns to the Mother-Plane, meets up with Gary, Bonnie, Clemont and Serena. Yes, I know that he is quite overpowered at the moment but that's just what his training made happen. The gym battles will get harder eventually. Also, I still need OCs, I only have twelve including my own so I still need a whole lot more. I've decided to also broaden where OCs are going to be used, so some may be used in the 'tournament' which isn't the Kalos League, some may be used in the actual Kalos League, some will show up at some point during the story, and so forth. If I have a stroke of inspiration, some OCs will have special scenes or interactions with the crew.**

 **Now, for the OCs that have already been chosen, here they are. If you recognise your character, congratulations, yours has been chosen. Just because it isn't here though, doesn't mean that it won't be used at all. Yes, I am aware that I listen ten not twelve, one is my own that hasn't been finished and the other still needs a last name so if you didn't give your character a last name, please submit it.**

 **Lucki Middling, Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini.**

 **The last five are mine, and I'll give cookies to those who can guess where their last names come from. And yes, Aurora and Nick are siblings. I had fun making those two… great, now I'm rambling while writing. I didn't know that was even possible.**

 **Give suggestions on what Pokémon Bonnie will get as the journey progresses, I already have three locked in (not including Dedenne) so there are two left, heh *rubs head*.**

 **Also, last thing, I am getting a lot of *checks OCs* pseudo legendries, Ralts family line, and Charizards, please be as original as possible, and I need varying strengths too. Don't be afraid to make performers, researchers, and all sorts of people, I need those types so that the whole group can have rivals and their rivals have rivals, such as Tierno having a dance rival (in the midst of creating her). So, until next time readers, I hope you had fun reading this just as much as I did writing it.**

 **Update: I just realised that I mucked up how I portrayed mega evolution throughout the story, and am now going through and fixing it. Hopefully it won't take long and will update soon.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Warning! This chapter does contain some dark themes. This a warning ahead of time, do not say I didn't warn you!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 2.**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

We had made it to a small town that was home to a Furfrou grooming salon. Jessica was quite nice to us.

The fight against the team Rocket grunts however, was most annoying. They managed to spray Pikachu in the face with ink. Growling, I decided to act as Pikachu's eyes.

"Pikachu! Don't try to shake off the ink! Let me be your eyes!" I called out to my brother. He nodded blindly and I called out commands and instructions so that he would not get hit by incoming attacks.

I heard Jessica gasping in awe behind me.

"Ash is… awesome," she stated under her breath. Bonnie heard her though.

"Yeah, it is only something that Ash and his Pokémon can do though, because they trust each other," Bonnie told her.

Trust. A memory flooded me.

 _~flashback~_

" _Ash! Pay attention!" Mewtwo scolded._

" _Sorry, Mewtwo," I apologised._

" _Now, tell me the reason why Aura Guardians, Psychics, and Ninjas cannot cooperate and why you are the exception to that," Mewtwo instructed._

" _Aura Guardians feel the auras of all living things, not only that, but they can manipulate it into energy forms. Aura Guardians are trained to remember everything they have ever experienced, as such, they are all taught the entire Aura Guardian history so that their history is not forgotten. If an Aura Guardian fears they are the last Aura Guardian, they are capable of creating 'Time Flowers' made of aura. These time flowers can be sealed away so that only a person with the capability for aura can view the memories in them. The 'last' aura guardian would leave multiple in a chest, each flower containing a vital lesson for the next generation. One such example of an Aura Guardian who made multiple time flowers is Sir Aaron for he did not know if he was the last or not and feared he would die before he could learn if his daughter would inherit aura capabilities._

" _Psychics use psychic energies to shape things to their will, similarly to aura guardians, but they also use it to control others. Psychics are trained similarly to Aura Guardians, but instead of remembering the past, they open their eyes to the future. As such, untrained psychics or psychics unaware of their potential often make their money as fortune tellers. Psychics who feel strongly towards someone, something, or someplace, will have more visions of that thing, person, or place, than they will have of random things. The more powerful the Psychic user, the more important and likely their visions become._

" _Ninjas mimic the abilities of Pokémon while combining that with weaponry and martial arts. Ninjas are known to be incredibly perceptive of the present, although they have no huge talent with retaining knowledge from the past or looking to the future. Ninjas train with their Pokémon and if they cannot best their own partners, their partners are taken until they can protect their partners. They often fight alongside each other as equals, trusting each other completely. Ninjas and their partners are often some of the few how understand the true meaning of 'trust' because they rely on each other so completely._

" _The three communities are incapable of cooperation as they each see a different element of life; past, present and future. The reason I am the exception is because I am trained in all three and as such I have balance that the communities do not," I recited._

" _Correct," Mewtwo responded._

 _~flashback end~_

Bonnie is perceptive of the present, that little girl is sneaky, the aptitude of a ninja.

I turned my attention back to the fight and quickly ended it. Turning to Bonnie, I smiled at her.

"I heard what you said back there," I told her. They all looked at me like I was insane.

"I don't get it," Bonnie told me.

"Trust is a very big part of the bond between people and Pokémon. The three types of people who have the strongest bonds with Pokémon are the Aura Guardians, the Psychics, and the Ninjas. The three of them do not get along though, and even hate each other with every fibre of their being, but, all three are needed for balance in the world. Ninjas are very perceptive of the present, like you. I have been trained as all three, Bonnie, and that allows me to attain balance. I would like to teach you to attain your ninja potential," I told her.

Silence.

Three.

Two.

One.

"WHAT!" they all exclaimed.

"Well, Bonnie has shown aptitude towards becoming a ninja, and it would give her the ability to defend herself if the worst was to happen. If I ever become aware or pick up on anything that points to one of you guys gaining or having an aptitude towards one of the three bond protectors, then I would happily teach you. As it is, I have only found Bonnie's aptitude to be a ninja," I explained to them.

"That sounds acceptable, Ash. Bonnie, make sure you listen to Ash when he is teaching you, okay?" Clemont replied. Bonnie nodded.

"I get it. Hey, Ash, when do I start my training?" Bonnie asked.

"Tonight. Depending on how well you do with training tonight will determine what we do tomorrow," I told her.

"Okay," she replied.

~Time-skip: that night~

"Okay, Bonnie, come and sit down over here," I told Bonnie after we had eaten. We were in the middle of a clearing in a forest. Bonnie nodded and sat down.

"Now, I want you to cross your legs and close your eyes. Don't think about anything. Listen to what is around you. Once you think that you can identify one of the sounds, I want you to tell me what it is," I instructed. She did as but I could tell she was struggling to keep still. After an hour, she opened her mouth.

"I can hear a Beedrill nest," she stated. I nodded to myself.

"You can open your eyes now," I told her.

"Did I do something wrong?" Bonnie asked.

"No. I was only expecting you to hear the wind, the stream that is a few hundred metres away, and maybe some of the flying Pokémon in the area. The fact that you were able to hear the Beedrill, which is well over a kilometre away, that just tells me that you can open your ears to hear dangers instead of the safeties. The fact that you can do that, tells me a lot about how your mind works. I now know how I can train you to be the best ninja you can possibly be," I explained to her.

"Oh, okay," she muttered.

"Bonnie, it's time for you to go to bed. You need some more sleep," Clemont ordered.

Bonnie walked off and went to sleep. I turned to Clemont once I could tell she was asleep.

"Clemont, would it be alright if I gave Bonnie some Pokémon of her own?" I asked Clemont.

"I don't mind; Bonnie would be thrilled. Are you sure though? I don't want to make you spend time looking for Pokémon for Bonnie," Clemont replied.

"What is her favourite type of Pokémon?" I asked.

"She likes all Pokémon; she just wants a chance to show that she's capabwas Clemont's explanati

"I already know which Pokémon to look out for. Thank you Clemont," I thanked him before climbing into a tree to sleep.

~Dreamscape~

 _Son,_ a familiar voice called out to me.

"Yes, Father?" I replied.

 _Which Pokémon do you believe are best for young Bonnie?_ Father-Arceus asked me.

I told Father-Arceus my ideas.

 _Perfect matches, my son. Keep in mind that you will also need to train Serena in the psychic arts and your old rival the aura ways. I will send direct to you the eggs for young Bonnie. But I will also direct a few other eggs for Gary and Serena respectively to you. They will both need to begin training soon,_ Father told me. I nodded.

"Yes Father-Arceus. I will not fail you," I confirmed with him.

~End Dreamscape~

I woke with the sun shining on my face. The others were looking up in my direction.

"Morning. Hope you all slept well," I told them.

"I slept really well, Ash!" Bonnie cried out as I jumped down from the tree, "What will I be learning today?"

"Well, we will continue on your listening exercises. As we walk, you will have your eyes closed, and you must listen to your surroundings. To find your way, you will need to listen to my footsteps as well as Clemont's, Serena's and Gary's. We won't lead you astray, so long as you listen correctly," I told her.

"Oh, okay," she muttered, a little down hearted.

"Bonnie, I know this sort of stuff seems unimportant and useless now, but it is some of the most important stuff you'll ever learn while I'm teaching you. Once I have deemed you ready, we will start working on your sight. Then, once that is good enough, basic combat positions moving up to more complicated ones. After that, we can do ninja elemental techniques. It took me a little over three years just to get all the basics right, Bonnie, then another six to get all the complicated stuff down. These things take time, Bonnie, just have patience," I explained to her.

"Okay," she huffed, a little more understanding.

We started walking, and Bonnie did very well. She didn't stray once. We arrived easily at Lumiose city.

When we stopped I asked Bonnie to accompany me on a short walk.

"Ash, why does listening to my surroundings matter so much?" Bonnie asked.

"Let me ask you a question. If you are being held prisoner, you head is covered in a burlap sack and your hands are tied, how are you supposed to save yourself?" I asked her.

"You have to listen to your surroundings, try and figure out what is going on, and use what you have on your person to escape," she answered easily, before her eyes widened dramatically.

"That's why. How about this, every time you become adept at certain skills, you will receive a gift. These gifts are ones that I know you will cherish very much," I promised her.

"What are they?" Bonnie pressed.

"Ah, ah, ah, that is for me to know, and for you, little Caterpie, to find out," I told her.

~Time-skip, just passed Camphrier Town~

Gary was training his Froakie near a waterfall, as he had been doing for quite a while now.

Bonnie and I on the other hand, were working on her ability to map out where things are based on vibrations and sounds around her, a bit like a mix of echolocation and aura sight.

That's when I felt something stir.

"Ash, someone or something that we don't know is watching us. I can feel it," Bonnie breathed.

"I felt it as well. They are similar to us, but not the same, little Caterpie. It feels like they are a ninja more than anything," I commented. I heard a small intake of breath that did not belong to my friends and threw one of my shrunken toward the sound without hesitating.

I turned towards the sound and saw a ninja wearing blue clothing, a yellow scarf, and a katana strapped to his back.

"How did you find me so quickly?" he asked, "Let alone tell that I was a ninja?"

"Would it not be polite to ask for the names of the people you were stalking before you asked them questions, young ninja?" I challenged him.

"I apologise for my behaviour. My name is Sanpei and my partner is Froggadier. I come from a ninja village to the north-east," he amended. I nodded in response.

"I am Ash Ketchum, trained ninja of no ninja village, and have yet to receive my katana. My partners are Pikachu, Charizard, Sceptile, Gengar, Greninja, and Lucario. This is my student, Bonnie," I introduced gesturing to Bonnie at saying her name, "Bonnie's older brother, Clemont," I continued gesturing to Clemont who bowed, "and some old friends of mine from before my training began, Gary and Serena," I finished while gesturing to Gary and Serena in turn.

"Hi! I'm Bonnie and I currently only have one partner, Dedenne, but Ash says I may find more partners throughout my training," Bonnie piped up.

"It is an honour to meet you, my fellow ninjas," Sanpei replied, "I now understand how you were able to feel my presence. How long have you been training, young Bonnie?"

"She has been under my tutelage for only a few weeks. I myself have only been out of my own tutors' metaphorical reaches for little over a month and a half. May I ask if you have a teacher yourself?" I responded for Bonnie.

"I have not found a suitable teacher yet, though I am looking. Would you happen to know any trainers around this area who would be a good option for a battle?" was the young ninja's reply.

"I'm happy to have a battle," Gary offered, "I'm training to challenge the Cyllage City Gym at the moment in fact."

"Very well, I shall have a battle with you. Froggadier will be my partner. Who will be yours?" was Sanpei's acceptance.

"I'll use my Umbreon. Would it be alright if my Froakie watched though?" Gary replied.

"I do not mind," Sanpei replied.

"I'll act as referee, alright?" I offered before turning to Bonnie, "watch this battle carefully Bonnie."

As the battle progressed, it was a very tight match, but, in the end, Sanpei's Froggadier managed to gain the upper hand over Gary and his Umbreon.

"Umbreon is unable to battle, Froggadier wins so the battle goes to Sanpei," I announced. Bonnie was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Umbreon didn't use his senses to the best of his abilities. Froggadier used all of them. That is why Froggadier won," Bonnie explained.

"Correct, well done Bonnie, but there was also the fact that Gary was a smidge too overconfident so didn't take into account how the battle was turning in Sanpei's favour," I told her.

"You are both very perceptive, even more so than many of the members from my village," Sanpei noticed.

"That is because ninja villages have forgotten many techniques over time, my teacher had knowledge of all the techniques as he travelled quite a lot and interacted with many ninja villages, thus the reason why I have yet to be given my katana. I have to prove that I can handle all the techniques by myself before being trusted with the weapon that would make me lethal beyond all reasoning," I replied.

"Say, since you've been battling so hard, why don't you have lunch with us, Sanpei?" Clemont offered.

"That would be greatly appreciated," Sanpei replied.

As we ate, Bonnie chatted quite happily for all of us, but then again, the rest of us did get to speak every now and then.

"Your Froggadier's quick attack was very well executed. Would it be possible for you to teach my Froakie how to achieve the same?" Gary asked.

"It would be an honour," Sanpei offered.

"In that case, Bonnie, you should go practice your listening exercises, listen to what is happening instead of seeing, and let what you hear paint the image in your mind," I instructed Bonnie.

"Yes Ash," she replied and sat down on a fallen log before closing her eyes.

"You seem to have taken quite a lot of dedication to improving Bonnie's senses," Sanpei commented.

"Without the proper perception of your surroundings, the training of a ninja is dangerous. Due to the fact that I am travelling with a member of Bonnie's family, I have to set a good example, but also the fact that Bonnie has had no experience with ninja training before this means she unused to dealing with ninja techniques. It would not be good for her safety to just throw her straight into physical training. Unlike you, someone raised to open your instincts and senses, Bonnie, and myself to a minor extent, does not have that familiarity. Besides, Bonnie is a friend first, student second, I will not put her training ahead of her safety. If she is injured from not receiving this training, she cannot move forward either," I lectured Sanpei.

"Wise words, Ash Ketchum, wise words indeed. I would not have expected from someone as young as you, not that I expect myself to have such wise words either, but it is rare for someone in my village to have such wise words," Sanpei complimented.

"They are the words my trainer told me when he began my training. Like my teacher, I refuse to harm my student or put her in unnecessary danger before she is ready," I explained.

The training that Sanpei used to train his Froggadier brutal, yes, but he knew how far he could go. While he just did the jumping on the ground, Greninja and I decided we would take the rocky side. Sanpei just stared at me in shock as I moved around swinging and jumping as easily as Greninja. Bonnie started swaying, rocking from side to side in time with every time I made contact with something I could push off of. The others wouldn't notice it, but I did and knew that she was focusing very well.

I almost missed an out jutting rock that hung over the water and grabbed the edge with my fingertips before catapulting myself upwards, bouncing off of the tree trunks and branches to climb higher and higher with Greninja following a split second after. I burst out through the tree tops and performed a spinning axe kick straight upwards before allowing my weight to bring me back down to earth, landing silently in a crouch in front of them.

"How? How did you do that?" Sanpei asked.

"A ninja should always be able to perform the same physical feats as their partner. If your partner can run on water, then you should be able to run on water, if your partner can catch a bullet, then you should be able to catch a bullet. That is the philosophy that I practice using. Of course, this must be modified for size differences and physical properties. I would not expect a human to try and fit through the same crevice that their Joltik partner can only just get through or a human to try and fly because their Pidgey can fly. That would just be silly," I explained. Then, I gestured for Greninja to show his way of running on water.

"Greninja can run on water, which he accomplished as a Froakie. As such, I expected myself to eventually be able to do the same. It took me a year and a half, but I did it," I stated before running across the top of the water.

"That is scientifically not possible!" Clemont stated.

"Yet Ash just did it," Gary added.

"That's incredible!" Sanpei exclaimed.

"Of course, unlike Greninja, I can't keep up those speeds for hours or even days. Greninja tested himself once, turned out that he can keep the necessary speed to run on water for up to two days straight and run across an entire ocean during that time. I can only keep the necessary speed to run on water for about an hour and a half. It isn't anywhere near as close as it could be, but it is at least better than not being able to keep up at all," I explained.

An hour later, Gary's Froakie was getting much closer to learning Quick Attack, but I felt an incoming distress signal.

"Something's coming!" Bonnie yelled out. I whipped my head around to see what it was and saw a horrifically injured Gardevoir enter the clearing with a large green egg with two red spikes protruding from the top in her arms. I raced to her side and supported her before she could fall over.

' _Save… my… babies…'_ she sent out telepathically before her heartbeat gave out. I gently took the egg from her arms and gave it to Serena to hold.

"She's gone. Her injuries were too great. Even if we had been able to get her to a Pokémon centre, it would have been too late to save her. Clemont, can you have your Bunelby dig a grave for a Gardevoir?" I announced.

"Sure," Clemont stated. Bonnie was crying openly and I pulled her into a hug.

"Don't cry, Bonnie, don't cry. She knew her time had come, and she held out long enough to save her unhatched child. Be happy for she will be welcomed into the Hall of Origin just like all the Pokémon that have passed. She will dine with Arceus and celebrate her life with her ancestors. She shall be hailed a heroine for giving the ultimate sacrifice to save her young ones," I murmured into her ear as she wailed.

Once the hole for the Gardevoir was large enough, Clemont took over comforting Bonnie as I lay the body into the make-shift grave. Bunnelby proceeded to cover over the body and I found a suitable stone which I embedded at the head of the grave. I then chiselled a message into the stone.

 _Here lies a wild Gardevoir;_

 _A Gardevoir that protected her unhatched baby with her life,_

 _Who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that a new life could live._

 _May she be welcomed into the Hall of Origins,_

 _Where the legends will feast in her name,_

 _Tell stories of her unwavering courage,_

 _And she will be united with her ancestors of centuries past._

 _May she never be forgotten by all those who knew her; no matter how briefly,_

 _May her sacrifice not be in vain; never forgotten; always cherished,_

 _And may her courage inspire all; both human, and Pokémon._

 _Here lies a wild Gardevoir that lay down her life so that another could live._

 _May she forever rest in peace._

"Now, she will never be forgotten," I stated. Bonnie was still crying and Serena picked some wild flowers before laying them on the soil respectfully. We all let our Pokémon out, and as the sun set, the mournful cries of fourteen Pokémon could be heard through the forest. As my brothers cried out from the pain of losing a kindred spirit I began the day of chanting required to guide a spirit to the Hall of Origins.

"Lord Arceus, take up this Gardevoir's soul, aura, and spirit, so that she may remain in your home, the Hall of Origin, until the end of this universe. May you welcome her into your halls so that she may be reunited with her ancestors and so she may wait for her descendants to join her. Grant her safety under your ever watchful eyes, so that she will never be fearful of what may be around. Lord Arceus, take up this Gardevoir's soul, aura, and spirit, so that she may rest in peace, now and forever, until the end of this everlasting era. Hear my soul's sorrowful song, hear my aura's distressed appeal, hear my spirit's solemn plea, to grant her eternal peace," I chanted.

That night was sombre and the others ate a better meal in respect of the bitter feeling that comes with a life being lost too soon, but I did not eat. Gary tried to meditate to bring his emotions under control, and Sanpei joined him. Serena was just sitting on the ground, keeping the egg warm while she gazed emptily at the grave marker. Bonnie had been sent to bed early as she cried herself to sleep. Clemont had fallen asleep soon after. I on the other hand stayed kneeling at the side of the grave, praying with all my might and using my power to help guide the fallen Gardevoir's spirit to the Hall of Origins.

I continued my chanting until the sun had risen once more, the others woke with puffy eyes from having cried themselves to sleep, but I did not notice, I still continued my chanting.

"Ash, you need to eat, you'll starve otherwise," Serena told me. I did not stop my chanting. The sun continued to rise into the sky and the others went about, their daily routines. Serena cared for the egg, Bonnie listened to the surroundings more intently than ever, Clemont tried to invent his things, Gary trained alongside Sanpei, and all the while, my Pokémon and I continued our chants. As the sun began to set once more, I stopped my chanting and stood up. I smiled to myself and I heard the voice of Father-Arceus speak to me.

" _She has been accepted."_

"Ash!" I heard Bonnie and Serena cry out as I toppled over.

"Are you okay?" Serena asked as she helped support me.

"I'm fine, just tired," I replied, reassuring her as best I could. I may have been denying it in the past when we first met at the Santalune Gym, but I was slowly falling for her, and I wanted to make sure she wasn't worried about me.

"You haven't eaten anything since that Gardevoir died, you haven't slept, you haven't drunken anything, it's no wonder you are tired," Clemont told me.

"Ash, what the heck were you thinking?" Gary asked.

"It is something my teacher taught me, something that Pokémon know through instinct. A Pokémon will mourn for another who has died for days, singing their cries to the legendary Pokémon, hoping that their cries will convince the dwellers of the Hall of Origin to accept the fallen one into those honourable halls. For people, we mourn for much less time and pretty much completely stop once the body is buried. However, it is important to mourn. If you do not mourn, the legendary Pokémon will not see the one who has died as worthy of entering the Hall of Origin. It is this process of mourning that is so crucial to the lives of Pokémon that it is instinct. My teacher taught me that when a brave soul moves on, I must mourn from the moment the sun touches the horizon on the day of the death, which is when the spirit, the soul, and the aura begins its journey, and continue mourning until the next day when the sun once again sets on the horizon. During those twenty-four hours, the legendries will debate whether or not the soul should be allowed entry to the Hall of Origin, once the next wave begins their journey, they will never make it," I explained.

"Did the Gardevoir make it?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm sure she did," I assured her. Clemont served my some of the leftovers from the previous night and I ate it quickly as I was very hungry. By the next morning, Sanpei had said his goodbyes and we were once again hitting the road.

 **A/N: well, don't say I didn't warn you. Anyway, that is yet another chapter of 'The Missing Ketchum'. The reason why this chapter was so late despite being prewritten is because my wrist decided to be crappy and got sprained in my sleep. Then again, this is the same wrist I somehow (don't even know how it happened even!) managed to sprain my wrist while doing a science exam.**

 **Anyway, let's get onto putting the list of characters that I have already locked in as accepted OCs. Do not be sad if your OC did not make this list, because it may just mean that your character's fate has yet to be decided. Also, no one has made the connection between the last names of my OCs yet. If you can get it, you get virtual cookies!**

 **Right, here's the accepted OCs (the ones with an asterisk next to it are mine and I got all of their last names from a certain source. If you can guess the source, you get the virtual cookies!) (Clue, I'm an avid book reader and love the inheritance cycle, the last dragon chronicles, the Dragon-keeper series, the three doors trilogy, the Ink-heart series, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and many other series.)**

 **Lucki Middling, Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small**

 **Remember to make your OCs as creative as possible, and mix up the teams a bit. I'm getting a lot of similar Pokémon such as: Frosslass, Charizard, Lucario, Gengar, Goodra, and so on. Try and use more 'forgotten' Pokémon that might not be used normally such as: Parasect, Delibird, Bergmite, Tympole, Finneon and so on.**

 **Oh yeah, if updates become less common, don't be worried, it just means that I'm working more on my actual book than on fanfiction, so yeah, updates may start getting a little scarce between injuring myself and working on my actual book.**

 **Last note, give ideas on what Pokémon Bonnie will get later on, there is one spot left in her team!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 3.**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

The days following the death of the wild Gardevoir, the mood was sombre, but we all progressed quickly with what we were aiming for. Bonnie had made leaps and bounds with her senses and was up to using her sight with her ears blocked to make quicker connections. So far, while on the road, I had placed three items that would not be considered normal to be there. All three were small and almost unnoticeable. Bonnie noticed every single one.

Gary had made research notes on mega evolution with my help and Clemont had started attempting to make a new invention, which I believed was a silly idea. He was trying to make a machine that would allow people to go between realms without the aid of Pokémon. No matter how many times I told him that it was too dangerous to even be attempted, he didn't listen. Even I couldn't travel between the realms without the assistance of a legendary Pokémon.

We were about a day out from Cyllage city when I heard Serena begin panicking.

"What's wrong Serena?" I asked her.

"The egg is hatching!" she yelled.

"Sit on the ground and give it as much warmth as you can. You have to be the first person the Pokémon inside sees," I told her.

"What? Why do I have to be the first person it sees?" she panicked.

"Imprinting is a very important part of a hatching. The first person a Pokémon sees after hatching becomes their parent in their eyes. You have already formed a bond unconsciously with this egg and after the traumatic events that brought it to you, it will need you to help continue giving care to it," I explained. She took a few deep breathes and steeled herself in order to stop herself from panicking further. Within only a few minutes, the egg had hatched and Serena was cooing over the two little Ralts that had hatched. One had a pink dress and blonde hair with pink horns that faded to white while the other had a blood red dress with black hair and black horns that faded to blood red.

"They're adorable," Serena whispered as their eyes opened to show that they both had brilliant blue eyes.

For the next few hours, the two Ralts were dubbed as 'Sakura' and 'Crimson', Sakura being the female pink one and Crimson being the male red one. Serena was very attached to the two newborns, and vice versa. The problem was, the two Ralts were unknowingly making a psychic bond, meaning that Serena would need to be taught how to control her own psychic energies.

"Serena, it's time," I told her. The others just looked at me strangely.

"What do you mean, it's time?" she asked.

"I mean that it is time for you to begin your training. The psychic bond that is forming between you and the twin Ralts is bringing your dormant psychic energies to life and if you don't receive training for yourself, you could end up hurting all three of you," I explained.

"Right," Serena said. I grabbed a spoon from the cooking supplies and held it up.

"Try bending this with your mind," I told her. She focused carefully and slowly, ever so slowly over half an hour, it bent just a tiny bit.

"I can't do it!" she exclaimed. I chuckled.

"Actually, you can. You just did. You may not notice it, but you did bend the spoon, only very slightly, but you still bent it," I told her.

"I did?" she asked. I nodded. She started cheering in celebration and Bonnie tripped over a rock.

"Ouch," she muttered and I helped her up before she crouched down again.

"Hey, it's an egg!" she exclaimed. I chuckled and picked up so that it wasn't left behind.

"You know what that means," I told her.

"No, I don't," she told me.

"Caterpie, it means that you have finished most of the work with you senses. You are ready to begin the next section of your training," I told her. She started dancing around. The rest of the day was spent with Bonnie attempting to climb the cliff walls, me catching her when she fell, and Serena continuously trying to bend the ruddy spoon. By nightfall, we were at Cyllage City.

The next morning, we headed out to the gym. Bonnie and I climbed the wall, well, more like Bonnie struggled up the wall under my watchful eye before I leapt up the wall. Serena, Gary, and Clemont took the elevator. Like before, Gary went first and beat the gym leader, Grant, before I had my full six on six battle, Charizard vs Onix, Gengar vs Tyrantrum, Sceptile vs Aurorous, Lucario vs Rhyperior, Greninja vs Cradilly, and finally, Pikachu vs Mega Steelix. Grant put up a better fight than Viola, but it still wasn't that much of a challenge.

To be honest, watching how Gary fought his battle was more interesting for me than my own battle. I just hoped that I would get some form of a challenge eventually.

The next day there was a baking contest which Serena decided to participate in after she got into a tiff with a new rival named Miette. Sakura and Crimson were fast learners and had already learnt to control the small amount of psychic energy they had, meaning that when it came to cooking, they worked together to help Serena multitask.

The end product for Serena's first round entry was a fluffy pink Poképuff that had a perfect combination of berry toppings for psychic, fire, and fairy typed Pokémon. She got through to the finals easily. the problem then lay that neither of them could find any ingredients to cook with. I just smirked.

"You two do realise that I have about two hundred of each berry known in my bag along with hundreds of many other unknown berry types, right?" I asked them. Serena hit herself in the head.

"How did I forget that?" she asked herself.

"I didn't know that you were a berry grower," Miette said. I chuckled.

"I'm not, but berries are a very good way to manage the battling status of any Pokémon. I myself have a small addiction to a few berry types," I said. "In any case, I'll let you two use some of the berries I have on hand, but I'd still like to find out why there are no berries in town."

"I'll come with you!" Bonnie said, grabbing my hand. Miette nodded.

"Slurpuff and I will help," she said. Serena nodded as well.

"I'd be more than happy to help,' she said. Gary and Clemont just exchanged eye contact and shrugged. Within very little time, we were walking through the forest and Serena had ran ahead. I heard a scream and ran after her. What I found made me blink in shock.

Serena had put up a psychic shield to keep her from being attacked.

"Serena!" I yelled out, attracting the attention of the Swirlix. I braced myself for them to attack and held out my hand, a very sweet berry in it.

"Here, Swirlix, if you take me to the ones that angered you, you get this," I told them, extending my aura to show I meant no harm. They nodded and I helped Serena dismantle her shield.

"Nice job with the shield," I told her.

"I didn't know I could do it. It was just instinct to throw my hands up and the shield was there," she said.

"Your psychic energies are growing quickly. Yesterday, you were struggling to bend a spoon, today, you are putting up shields through instinct alone," I told her.

"Is it supposed to grow this fast?" she asked.

"It varies from case to case, but yours is growing faster than mine did, mainly because you have two psychic bonds while I have none, but individual potential is something that I have a higher amount of while yours is lower. This isn't that bad, it means that by yourself, your psychic energies wouldn't be as strong as mine, but with the bonds you have, you can rival me eventually," I told her while helping her up. The others caught up and we followed the Swirlix.

What I found made me fume.

"Team Rocket," I growled out. They shivered visibly when they saw me and I pooled my aura in my hands.

"You have two seconds to run before I blast you all the way to Johto," I told them. It took them one second to get out of their machine and by the time another second had passed, they had only gotten five metres. The aura spheres in my hands were fired and they were sent flying straight upwards. When they came back down, I let Charizard out and told him to haul them to Johto and dump them in the ocean. There were many berries around and I managed to deduct that Team Rocket had stolen all the ingredients.

The next day, the finals of the bake off were underway. Serena made an elaborate pure white Poképuff that had two miniature Ralts that looked like Sakura and Crimson with a Fennekin between them eating from a miniature berry basket filled with tiny little berries. Every decoration was made from berries and batter, fully edible. Miette's on the other hand was simple with an Oran and Cherri berry topping.

"The winner is…" the judge began, pausing for emphasis.

"Come on Serena," Bonnie whispered.

"Serena!" the judge announced.

"WHOO! GO SERENA!" Gary, Bonnie and I all called out as one. Miette looked defeated and as we said goodbye, I noticed that Serena and Miette had a rivalry over something bigger than just their baking.

Half an hour later, I noticed that Serena's psychic energies were all over the place.

"Serena, what's wrong?" I asked her.

"What? Nothing, nothing's wrong," she tried to say.

"Something is very wrong. You can tell me," I told her.

"It's just, you wouldn't understand," she brushed me off.

"Yes, I would, I know more about you than you think I do. When I offered for you to travel with me, I picked up on some of your thoughts, your reason for seeking me out personally. I would understand better than you might think." I told her. She sighed.

"Miette's what's wrong. She seems so determined to win you over without even knowing the real you, and I don't want to lose you to someone like her," she told me. She turned her head away as if she was ashamed. I grabbed her chin and kissed her square on the lips.

"Never. Miette doesn't hold a candle to your flame, Serena. In the past week, despite my logical side saying that I shouldn't fall in love as it would only put them in danger, I have fallen for you, and I have fallen harder than the time Gengar decided to use gravity as I was free falling from ten thousand feet," I told her after I pulled away.

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because you know the real me, because you didn't just take one look at me and judge me on my appearance. Because you knew the me before I became this. Others, they would have hated the past me but try to take advantage of the new me, you don't treat me differently to anyone else you meet. You treat me like any other person. You are the one person who I don't feel like I have to hide from," I told her before kissing her again.

She grinned into the kiss, and I could tell that there was a lot of camping gear getting thrown around from her psychic energies.

"Serena, control yourself," I told her.

"Sorry," she muttered before the gear settled back down.

"Its fine. When I was just starting to get control, it was hard to keep in control. Things went flying everywhere," I told her, and she laughed. I picked up a spoon and gave her a stern look. "Now, bend the spoon," I told her. Within seconds, the spoon was bent over double. I nodded to myself and levitated two spoons in the air along with fifty forks and knives.

"Only bend the two spoons," I told her. This time however, she couldn't do it. She bent all of the cutlery instead of just the two spoons. I used my own psychic powers to straighten them back out again though. "Again," I told her. She nodded and this time she only bent half of the cutlery, including one of the spoons. We continued like this for another half an hour until she could focus her power on just the spoons. After that, I set Serena doing meditation exercises in order to help calm her power down a bit. Then I started teaching Bonnie some simple hand to hand combat. The first lesson was how to kick. She would not be moving forward until she could kick straight upwards without falling over. The first few tries were funny to say the least. She would try kicking straight up but ended up falling onto the ground before she could even straighten her leg.

"Again," I told her each time. When she finally got her leg into the correct position, I put up a hand.

"Hold it there," I said. She strained to stay in position and I supported her leg so that she didn't have to worry about falling over. "Can you feel the muscles that are keeping you upright?" I asked her. She nodded. I pulled my hand away and told her to retract her leg slowly.

"Eventually, I'll have you kicking like this," I told her before spinning on my heel and kicking a kick straight up as I lifted off the ground and snapping my leg around in a spinning kick on the way down, landing in a predator-like way. Without waiting a single second, I pushed myself up out of the crouch and allowed my body to flip around and kick in a circular wheel like motion. Once again, I had landed in a crouch but with a spinning kick as I jumped straight upward fixed that as I landed upright on two feet. Bonnie clapped.

"Your turn. Kick out to the side," I instructed. She did so and I noticed that she put her body sideways in order to do it. I nodded. "Good, but straighten your body out," I told her. She tried but couldn't quite get there. "The first step to kicking straight up is kicking to the side. Once you can kick to the side and keep your body straight, then all you need to kick upwards is a jump and rotation of your body," I instructed.

Working on that for a while longer until food was ready. Serena was sitting on her hands and levitating the cutlery to her mouth in order to eat and I smiled as I could remember doing the exact same thing. Bonnie was jumping around still, but once I told her to calm herself, she managed to do so. Gary and Clemont were talking about Clemont's latest inventions, as per usual. He had finally given up on the cross dimensional transporter. Smirking at Serena, I sat on my hands and mimicked her by using my own psychic powers to not only get my cutlery to float up to my mouth, but to mess around with Serena's cutlery, bowl, and the food itself. It was a test of sorts. Every time Serena got close to getting a fork full of food to her mouth, I would make it jump off and fly around the table. The test was to have her battle for control of her cutlery and chase the food. It ended up with everyone having food covering them except me as I kept the food away from me.

"I guess I'm not that good yet, Serena said. I chuckled.

"No, but you are getting better. Didn't you notice that it got easier for you to chase after your food and plates even though I was moving them faster and faster?" I told her.

"I didn't really notice, and I lost control over my own cutlery," she said. I chuckled.

"I was contesting your power with my own to control your cutlery. You did well to keep control because when two people use their psychic power to contest for control over the same object, it can be slightly dangerous as there is the possibility of the object literally exploding and each person getting dust particles of the object they were fighting for control over," I told her.

"It just doesn't seem like I'm getting any better," she says. I shake my head.

"You are. A few days ago you were struggling to bend a spoon, now you are able to have a telekinetic food fight, that, is pretty impressive," I tell her.

It took a few more days until we were half way to Geosenge town, and we met a girl named Korrina. She and her Lucario beat Gary and his Umbreon pretty badly. During lunch, my Lucario popped out of his Pokéball and I groaned at his intentions.

"Brother, make sure you ask for consent. I do not wish to have any tension between as because of your actions," I say. Korrina just stares.

"What do you mean?" she asks, but it wasn't too long before both of the Lucario are at it. I put up an aura screen so that Bonnie was not traumatised.

"Just go along with it. Pokémon have mating seasons, and well, Lucario, my Lucario, has supressed his instincts for quite a few years now. The rest of us used to tease him that he couldn't even feel them he was so stoic. Apparently, he was waiting for the right partner. Your partner Lucario hasn't ever been through a mating season and had urges after maturing, would I be right?" I asked. She nodded. "Let's just say, you may be walking away with an egg after this," I said. She grimaced slightly but didn't say anything, wise girl.

An hour or so later, the two fighting types had finished. During that time, Bonnie had found out that Korrina and her Lucario were attempting to achieve mega evolution.

"You finished you two?" I asked. Both Lucario nodded and I sighed in relief. "Thank you for finishing up, I told them. Korrina's Lucario walked forward and handed her an egg. She held it awkwardly and I got the feeling that she had never held an egg in her life.

"Here, hold it like this," I told her while moving her hands into a position better suited to holding the egg.

"Thanks, I'm not that good with being gentle, so I was kind of scared I would break it," she admitted. I laughed.

"Trust me, it is usually like that for most people. The first time it happened with me, I almost did drop it and once the egg had been put down, the parents proceeded to attack me with their strongest attacks. After that, I haven't even gotten close to dropping a single Pokémon egg," I told her, making everyone laugh and Pikachu sparked dangerously.

"I said I was sorry, Pikachu, I didn't mean to almost drop your unhatched offspring," I told him. Lucario just laughed at my predicament.

"So, how many of your Pokémon have mated?" Korrina asked.

"As of now, only three. Pikachu and Charizard are the only other ones that have mated. The others have yet to connect with another Pokémon on that level, let alone a compatible Pokémon. Greninja has gotten close, but the two of them were just not compatible enough for them to mate. Sceptile will settle down once he finds the right grass type, and Gengar just acts so childish, I sometimes wonder if the urges have ever hit him to start trying to find a mate," I share.

"Hey Ash, how is my egg friend?" Bonnie asked while holding up the egg. I take it from her hands, and inspect it.

"They seem alright to me. Maybe another few weeks before they hatch, okay?" I tell her. She nods.

"Yep, I can't wait until they hatch," she says. I laugh.

A day later, we had made it to Geosenge town, I could feel a Lucarionite nearby, so I excused myself so not to ruin the test in place for Korrina under the guise of having to call my mum, which I did do. I even met up with Korrina's grandpa, Gurkin, and I watched on as Korrina instructed her Lucario. I nodded to Gurkin and we ended the test by walking out.

"I don't understand," Korrina said.

"You see, I have mega evolving Pokémon myself, and I know how irresponsible it is for a person with mega evolving Pokémon to be helping someone who is chasing mega evolution as it could form a false bond. Could sense the aura of the Lucarionite nearby so excused myself. I wouldn't have come here at all if it wasn't for the fact that Gurkin here invited me to tag along. Oh, Gary, I spoke with my sister Misty, and she wanted to know when you were coming to visit Cerulean City again," I said making Gary blush red, "so I was wondering whether or not I should worry about you stealing my sister."

"We've been dating for about a year, okay. Nothing that big," he said. I laughed and punched him in the shoulder.

"I was joking, and I already knew in any case," I told him. He sighed in relief. Once we had all walked outside, Korrina tested the mega evolution bond between her and her Lucario. It ended in disaster. If it weren't for Lucario and I absorbing as much of the aura as we could, the aura winds would have been extremely destructive. I noticed however that Gary was absorbing some of the aura as well.

"That was a disaster. You need to learn how to help Lucario control her aura," Gurkin said.

"It would have been worse, Gurkin, if the aura winds hadn't been absorbed as much as they were by my partner Lucario and I. If it had been left unabsorbed in such a raw and uncontrolled state, it would have destroyed quite a few buildings," I told him and he nodded.

"I'm sorry, grandfather, but we'll do better, I promise we will," Korrina apologised.

"Before anything like that can be done though, Lucario needs to be taken to the Pokémon centre. Lucario, pick up your mate and run her to the Pokémon centre ahead of us," I instructed. Lucario nodded and began his mate run to the Pokémon centre. The rest of us followed as quickly as we could.

Thankfully, there wouldn't be any lasting damage to Korrina's Lucario. Unfortunately, when Korrina battled with Gurkin, she and Lucario still couldn't connect properly.

Gurkin decided to send Korrina with us to an expert on mega evolution and forming the right bonds named Mabel. For a few days, I wondered if their bond was too strong for the stones, but after looking through the bonds using Aura sight, I could see that they were not in sync enough for mega evolution to work completely, let alone Synchro evolution.

The way to Mabel's home was long and winding, but interesting to say the least. The old woman insisted on us making flower arrangements and while the others couldn't understand it, I could. You had to work together in this area to get the best flowers. Pikachu and I would go and cross the lake together and climb up into the tallest trees in order to get flowers from up there. The others didn't quite get the meaning, and Korrina was getting extremely frustrated.

"Why does she keep making us arrange these stupid flowers?" she screamed into her pillow. "She should be helping Lucario and I learn to control mega evolution."

"She is," I state from where I was meditating.

"What do you mean?" Korrina asked.

"There are three main stages of bonds between human and Pokémon. The first is just a regular bond, these are common. The next is the bond that allows a Pokémon to mega evolve. The third and last bond is when trainer and Pokémon is completely in synch with the other, these are extremely uncommon and as far as I know, I'm the first person to have such a bond with my Pokémon partners in eight hundred years. You and Lucario are not working together. For example, Pikachu and I run across the lake together before climbing up a cliff face and a few trees in order to get our flowers, to do that, Pikachu has to rely on me to run fast enough to go over the water, I have to trust that Pikachu will choose the safest route up the cliff, and we both have to trust each other to help the other up the tree. You and Lucario each find your own flowers and then try to work together to put things together. This is where you two are not meshing together correctly. If you work together the entire time, then you will progress faster. While yes, there are abilities that can make this connection form quicker, they will do nothing unless you start looking through Lucario's eyes and see what Lucario is seeing. Only then will mega evolution work for you. The stones amplify the connection, yes, but if you are in disharmony, then it will amplify that disharmony," I explained.

"Couldn't you teach me-," Korrina began to ask but I cut her off.

"No, I can't. No one can teach you, only guide you. You have to find your own path, Korrina, but others can help you down the path. What Mabel is doing is the right thing, only when you and Lucario are truly together can you pass her first and only test. The most I can do to help you is to tell you this, forget what _you_ see and open your eyes to see what Lucario sees," I told her before standing up to help Bonnie with her exercises.

"Did I get it?" Bonnie asked me.

"Not quite," I told her. She had gotten her basic kicks up to standard and I was teaching her how to punch. I had her punch the air again and noticed how her hand was curled incorrectly.

"Your hand is not in the correct position. If you were punching an actual target, you would break the bones in your hand-," I paused to put her hand into the correct position, "- There, that's better," I told her.

"Oh," Bonnie said. The rest of the evening was spent with Clemont working on an invention, Serena practising her psychic powers, Korrina mulling over what I had said, Gary on a video chat with Misty, and me tutoring Bonnie on how to punch.

The night was peaceful, and I wondered to myself whether or not Korrina was truly ready for mega evolution.

 _She will be, my son, she is close to the point of understanding and true bonding, but she will not make it to a perfect synchronisation with her partner._ I heard Father-Arceus project into my mind.

 **A/N: Hey everyone who is reading this! I am so sorry it took me so long to update, but I am accident prone and managed to hurt my wrist and then my computer got stuffy, followed by a mountain of school work, then getting my finger jammed in the freezer door. Needless to say, I don't seem to have the best of luck in that department.**

 **So, anyways, keep sending in your OCs, any character is welcome, try to make them as unique as possible. even if you do not have an OC to submit, please review, give me some feedback as after last chapter I didn't get much and I was worried that people had lost interest. I decided to post this today because today Pokémon Sun and Moon come out and this is to celebrate even though it has nothing to do with that set of games. I bought Pokemon Moon to celebrate surviving the marathon of exams that is the first day of my exam block (three exams in one day). Unfortunately, my mum says I need to study for my remaining three exams so I don't get to play Pokemon Moon until Wednesday.**

 **List of accepted OCs (the ones with an asterisk are mine):** **Lucki Middling, Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small.**

 **If you can guess the theme for my characters, you will get a special shout out and (if you have an account) a special insight to what is going to happen later in the story.**

 **Also, as pretty much no one gave ideas on Bonnie's last Pokémon, I will have to use a randomizer until I find a suitable match, unless you put in a review with a suggestion (not eeveelutions as Serena is getting one and I do not want to be overly repetitive).**

 **Till next time,**

 **-RebeccaMagic9**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

A week after Korrina's outburst, she finally managed to connect properly with Lucario. Unfortunately, it was during a Team Rocket attack and I ended up having Charizard haul them off to Hoenn. Knowing them, they would be back.

"There you go, Korrina, you did it," I told her.

"Thanks," she said.

The next morning, as she was about to leave, she stopped and held out the Riolu egg that she had been caring for.

"Take it, your Lucario is the father after all," Korrina said.

"No, I couldn't. It would not be right for me to take it. An Aura Guardian that already has an aura using companion should not take another for it would be an insult to the original, and I could never do that to my brother Lucario," I said.

"I don't trust myself with an egg. I don't think I'm ready for that yet," Korrina protested.

"But, I do know someone who has the potential to be an Aura Guardian that doesn't have an aura partner," I said.

"Would you pass on this egg to them then?" Korrina asked.

"Of course." I smiled as I took the egg from her hands and turned to face Gary.

"Here you go, Gary," I said making everyone go bug-eyed.

"Wait, what? Why are you giving it to me?" Gary asked.

"Remember a few weeks ago when Lucario couldn't control her aura? Well, as an Aura Guardian I absorbed quite a lot of the overflowing aura. However, I noticed that you were also absorbing some of it as well. Only those with the potential to become an Aura Guardian can do that," I explained.

"Really?" Gary asked.

"Of course. I didn't mention it earlier because I wasn't completely sure as I was not focusing on what you were doing. But last night, there was a lot of excess aura flying around, and once again, you absorbed some of it. If you want, I will teach you what it means to be an Aura Guardian," I offered Gary. He nodded and took the egg from my arms.

"Thank you, it is an honour," Gary told me.

We parted ways after that, and we continued one our way. Bonnie was still caring for her egg, and Gary was being very careful with his. In fact, Gary caught a Hawlucha very soon after we parted way with Korrina.

Just before we headed out for the caves, we met up with Professor Sycamore. He was amazed that we had met more mega Pokémon and he inspected the two eggs we had on hand. After unpacking our stuff in our cabin, which marked us as Team Froakie, we decided to go down to the beach.

"Bonnie, how about we do some training. Staying stable on sand is harder than on secure ground, so it would do well for you to get used to it sooner rather than later," I suggested. Bonnie nodded and Gary decided to join in. Clemont just sat down and started working on another invention and Serena spent walked down to the water and began wading around.

"Alright Bonnie I want you to work on your punches with Lucario. Gary, you will be working on punches with me," I instructed while letting Lucario out. It was about half an hour later that Bonnie and Gary needed a break so I called out Greninja and Sceptile.

"Okay guys, let's get a sparring match going," I said and they each got into a ready position. I smirked and got into a crouched position that would give me more power to attack once I pushed off. Serena walked over and realized that she should say the starting words.

"All contenders ready? Yes, then let this sparring match, begin!" she called out and immediately, Lucario and Sceptile rushed at me with Bone rush and Leaf Blade respectively while Greninja stayed back and fired Water Shurikens. When they got into close proximity, I leaped upwards and caught the Water Shurikens and threw them at Lucario and Sceptile. After that, the spar got a lot more interesting.

I barely noticed how many people had gathered around to watch as the four of us sparred with each other. I dodged their attacks, redirected attacks, dealt blows, and more. Sceptile was the first one to need to sit out after ten minutes. I had struck him in one of his weak spots where he had stress fracture points hard enough for him to crumple. Another twenty minutes later, I managed to get Lucario out for the count by kicking sand in his eyes and then using him as a shield to stop Greninja's Water Shurikens from hitting me. Another thirty minutes later and I had knocked Greninja out at last. I had redirected one of hit Water Shurikens and it hit him in the stomach, winding him enough that I could flip him onto the sand with enough force to knock him out.

"And the winner is Ash!" Serena announced. The crowd around me let out a cheer.

"That looked really intense," a large guy said. "I'm Tierno by the way."

"I'm Ash. Yeah, I kind of do that a lot, although usually I only do one on ones, today I felt like challenging myself. I don't often get a chance to do spars on sand so I try and get as much practice in as I can when I do get the chance," I replied, shaking his hand.

"The fact that you can even go toe to toe with a single Pokémon is amazing, but three at the same time is just awesome to the max," Tierno said.

"Thanks. Why don't you meet my friends? Guys, come on over!" I suggested and Bonnie came bounding over followed at a slower pace by the others.

"Hi, I'm Bonnie, and this is Dedenne. One day, I'm going to become a really strong Pokémon trainer," Bonnie said happily.

"I'm Clemont, Bonnie's older brother," Clemont said afterwards.

"Hi, I'm Gary, Pokémon Researcher from Kanto," Gary said happily.

Serena went to introduce herself but Tierno recognised her somehow.

"You're Serena! Wait, just, stay here," he said before racing off and returning with a brown haired girl a few minutes later.

"Oh my gosh, Tierno was right, you ARE Serena," the girl said.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Serena asked.

"I recognised you from your Pokévision video," the girl stated.

"Really? I didn't know that anyone watched it," Serena said.

"You really didn't know? Oh, I have to show you this, come on!" the girl said before dragging Serena off, forcing the rest of us to race after them. We eventually found them up at the computer in the Pokémon centre.

"Here, I check for new videos every time I visit a Pokémon centre. This is yours," the girl said while bringing up Serena's video. It had thousands of views.

"Wow, I didn't realise it was so popular," Serena said. I smirked and wrapped my arms around Serena's waist.

"I don't think you could be anything but popular, Serena. Who wouldn't like you?" I told her.

"You are just biased because I'm your girlfriend," she told me.

"No, I'm telling the truth, I swear on my aura. Even if you weren't my girlfriend I would still say that," I told her.

"Aww! You two are so cute together!" the girl exclaimed. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Shauna."

"Nice to meet you Shauna, I hope we can be good friends in the future," I said to her.

"It was really cool how you fought your own Pokémon hand to hand like that. I would ask how you managed to do that, but I don't think I would be able to handle the answer," Shauna said in reply. I laughed.

"A lot of practice and training," I explained without stating the specific training I did.

Tierno was about to say something but was interrupted by a hyperactive Charmander.

"Charmander! Wait up!" I heard someone call out. A boy with orange/red hair appeared coming up the stairs. "Do you have to run everywhere?" he asked the Charmander to which he got a nod.

"Hey Trevor, finally got here, did you?" Shauna asked.

"Yeah, hey Shauna, hey Tierno," the boy, now identified as Trevor, replied.

"From the way your Charmander is acting, I would say that it is always looking for battle. I'm guessing you just got into a battle from the scrapes that Charmander has," I commented.

"Yeah, we did. Charmander is always looking for a battle even if he has already had one just a few moments ago," Trevor admitted.

"There is nothing wrong with that and is a trait quite common for Charmanders that are from Charisific Valley, I should know as my own Charizard had the same traits before he learned to control the urge to constantly fight, and he came from Charisific Valley," I told him.

"Oh, I didn't realise that," Trevor said while rubbing his head.

"That is to be expected. When it comes to the behaviour of Pokémon, there are a few different species that have certain behaviour habits tied to specific places of origin. For the Charmander line it is Charisific Valley, for the Riolu line it is the Kingdom of Rota, for the Treeko line it is Petalburg Woods, for the Ghastly line it is Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower, for the Pichu line it is Viridian Forest, for the Eevee line it is in Castellia City. The list goes on. Not many are aware of the origin differences as not many in those areas realise that their Pokémon acts differently to the majority of their species. Of course, that is not to say that a Charmander from Charisific valley can't be relaxed and lazy as anything, or that an Eevee from Castellia City can't be the sweetest thing possible considering that Eevee in that city are known to be cruel and ruthless," I explained.

"Wow, I didn't realise that there were such differences in Pokémon," Trevor said with glee while his Charmander kept punching the air. I could only chuckle at that, Trevor really had no idea what to do with his partner. I pulled a berry out of my back pack, a Lax berry which calms a Pokémon and makes them sleepy. I threw the berry to Charmander and he caught it in his mouth before quickly dropping off to sleep.

"What?! How did you do that? What type of berry was that?" Trevor asked. I laughed at his reaction.

"That was a Lax berry, named after Snorlax as this berry is its favourite and the reason they sleep so much. Lax berries make Pokémon sleepy, the more hyper active a Pokémon is, the more effective it becomes. I figured that considering how hyperactive your Charmander is, it would be a sure way to get it to stop running around constantly," I explained.

"How long do the effects last?" Trevor asked.

"About half an hour per berry. Snorlax usually eat them in very large quantities so they then fall asleep for long periods of time. I used to eat them as midnight snacks when I couldn't sleep in fact. If the need to sleep is there, the berry just kick starts the sleeping process," I explained.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Trevor exclaimed. I chuckled and pulled a wrapped pack of Lax berries out of my backpack and handed it to Trevor.

"Take this. Fifty Lax berries for you to use when Charmander gets too battle crazy. Don't use them all at once, but with your Charmander, I don't think that those fifty berries will last long," I told Trevor.

"Oh, thank you," Trevor replied. Just then, an announcement came on over the speakers that an opening meeting would be held on the beach to commence the summer camp. The eight of us walked down to the beach and found a place to stand as we listened to Professor Sycamore, but there was a slight interruption.

"Ash, my egg is hatching!" Bonnie whisper yelled at me. My eyes went wide with shock, now was not a good time for this to happen. Knowing that it would be impossible to delay the hatching I got Bonnie sitting down on the sand and people started backing away, which caught even more attention.

"Sorry Professor, Bonnie's egg is hatching," I explained when the Professor noticed the commotion.

"That's marvellous, absolutely marvellous. Campers, you might want to step back from young Bonnie so that the Pokémon imprints on the right trainer when they hatch," Professor Sycamore replied and immediately, they all stepped back.

It was just in time too as a bright light erupted from the egg and a few seconds later, there was a small gold and white mass of fluff sitting in Bonnie's lap. A shiny Swablu.

"Hello, little one, my name's Bonnie and I'm going to be your trainer," Bonnie cooed at the tiny (and it was even smaller than average (average being about forty centimetres tall) at about ten to twenty centimetres tall at most) thing as they opened their eyes. I extended my aura out and found that this Swablu was female.

"Bonnie, this Swablu is a girl, do you want to give her a special name or just call her Swablu for now?" I informed Bonnie.

"She can just be called Swablu for now," Bonnie said. The little thing chirped in agreement as if happy with being called Swablu. Dedenne scurried out of Bonnie's bag and onto her head so that Bonnie could gently place the small shiny Swablu in her bag as it nodded off to sleep.

"Just let Swablu sleep for now Bonnie, perhaps you and I can take a walk back to the cabin where it is going to be much quieter," I told Bonnie while looking up at Professor Sycamore.

"By all means, you are welcome to, so long as you don't mind missing out on the battles on the beach that are tradition to opening summer camp," the Professor told me.

"I don't mind, and Bonnie isn't actually a trainer yet," I replied and began walking towards our cabin with Bonnie following behind happily. It was a few hours later that Bonnie and I entered the hall to eat dinner with the others, and Swablu was still fast asleep.

"Wow, this is incredible, a shiny Swablu," Trevor gushed.

"Shush, you'll wake her up!" Bonnie hissed at him.

"Sorry," Trevor apologise immediately.

"Bonnie is really good at caring for Pokémon, isn't she," Tierno commented.

"Yeah, Bonnie's always wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, so she sees all Pokémon as precious. She's always been passionate about Pokémon, but Ash has just helped her use that passion in a good way. Bonnie used to go and invade the personal space of any Pokémon she saw whether they liked it or not just so that she could hug them, now though, she spends her time learning how to defend her Pokémon partners thanks to Ash. Ash just has a way of changing people for the better," Clemont replied and I just sighed.

"Clemont, I just do what is right. Bonnie has every right to learn from me, and it is better for her to do so than to try and figure out her gifts on her own. I know that if I were left to figure out mine, I would have gone mad from the power and possibly could have harmed or even killed myself from the lack of guidance," I told Clemont. "For that matter, it is the same with Serena and Gary as it is with Bonnie. While yes, it is highly unlikely that any of them has the capabilities for their gifts to become anywhere near as self-destructive as mine could have been, their gifts are most certainly strong enough for it to drive them into madness if not trained and guided properly."

"For that I'm thankful I have you by my side, Ash," Serena said while kissing me on the cheek.

"I'm not going to kiss you, but I am grateful for you beginning to teach me. I never thought I would have such a strange gift," Gary said between bites of his food.

"Don't worry Gary, I would never ask you to kiss me, I'll leave that for my sister to do," I joked.

"Yeah, I think that would be best," Gary said making us all laugh.

"So, Clemont, what do you do?" Tierno asked.

"I'm an inventor, I invent things, though they don't always work, I've had some good ones," Clemont explained.

"Wow, really? Can I see one of them?" Trevor asked.

"Sure," Clemont said while picking up his backpack. "Aipom arm, go," Clemont said to activate the technological arm that came out of his backpack.

"Oh wow, this is so amazing!" Trevor gushed.

"What sort of things do you guys do?" Gary asked.

"My dream is to take photos of every Pokémon in the pokedex, and then find one that isn't even listed yet," Trevor said happily. "Bonnie could I please take a photo of your Swablu? A shiny Swablu that is smaller than normal is so rare. Shiny Pokémon in themselves are super rare, but having a difference in size like that is so absolutely rare."

"Sure, but do it quietly, I don't want you to wake her up. She's just a little baby right now, not even a day old!" Bonnie replied. Trevor gushed out thanks and took about five photos of the sleeping Swablu.

"I'm a Pokémon Performer, I compete in showcases that have trainer and partner working together to make a wonderful performance. My dream though is to become Kalos Queen, which is the title that is given to the best Pokémon Performer in Kalos. I'm also trying to learn how to play violin" Shauna shared with us.

"Good luck with your dream then, Shauna, I will be rooting for you," Gary replied.

"Thanks," Shauna said happily.

"I could teach you to play violin," Clemont offered. "I've been playing violin for fourteen years now and I have passed all my violin exams too so I'm qualified to teach violin."

"Really? That would be so awesome, thank you so much, Clemont," Shauna squealed.

"It's no problem, really," Clemont said while blushing.

"Do any of you guys play instruments too?" Trevor asked.

"I've been playing piano for about nine years now, so I like to think I'm pretty good at it," Serena revealed.

"I can play percussion, but I prefer drumming over the mallet percussion," Bonnie said happily.

"I've got no musical talent other than singing if I'm honest. And even that isn't that good," Gary said while rubbing his head. "I'm more into writing music myself. Grandpa often talks in poetry and songs are just rhythmic poems so I kind of started figuring out how to write songs a few years ago."

"I can play on a leaf whistle, and I can play flute. I can also sing, but I don't sing that often," I revealed.

"Since when have you been able to play flute and leaf whistle?" Gary asked in surprise.

"Since my teacher taught me how," I told him simply.

"What about you, Tierno? What's your dream?" Serena asked before Gary and I could get into an argument.

"My dream is to have the best Pokémon Dance crew in the world. My biggest competition is Emma Wilkinson, she's the head of the Undella Bay Tap Dancers and they are the current top Pokémon Dance crew. So many aspiring dance crews have gone up against her and her team of dancers in a dance battle, yet no one has even gotten close to beating her. If I could beat her in a dance battle, it would be a dream come true," Tierno replied.

"Wow, that sounds like hard work," Bonnie commented.

"Yeah, it is. Emma Wilkinson is the absolute best at what she does, all her Pokémon have such different styles, yet she can combine them in such a perfect mix that it doesn't matter. I've heard that she always has a long staff with her when she dances and sometimes when she's doing certain sequences with her Marowak, the ends catch fire. She is at a level that most Pokémon Dance Crews can only dream of. It would be an honour to just dance on the same stage as her, she's that good," Tierno explained before going on a loop about how perfect this 'Emma' was.

"Well, Tierno's gone off on a tangent about Emma Wilkinson. So, what are you guys aiming for?" Trevor said.

"Well, my goal is to invent lots of helpful things that can help people and Pokémon. The ultimate goal though would be to create an invention that would make a perfect world for all Pokémon to live in," Clemont said simply.

"I want to be a really strong trainer one day, so I'm learning everything I can from Ash who is the strongest trainer I know. Ash has already taught me so much," Bonnie said happily.

"I'm a junior Pokémon professor, and my research focusses on what the best and safest methods of training Pokémon are. I also study which training methods are most commonly used by wild Pokémon and try to find out whether or not those tactics would work with caught Pokémon. To do this, I travel around a lot and train my own Pokémon, often going from the ground up with just my partner Umbreon when I go to a new region. That way I can test the training methods against gym leaders, I don't normally go compete in a Pokémon League after the first two failures before I became a researcher. But I decided to compete in the Kalos league because if the trainers competing are even a hundredth of the strength Ash is, then there will be some amazing training methods to see put into use," Gary explained.

"Wow, that's so cool. How old do you have to be to become a researcher?" Trevor asked.

"Well, to become a researcher, there's two ways you can get in. The first way is to get an apprenticeship to a proper, senior, or master professor and they accept from age sixteen and up. The second way is to get a leg up from a regional professor and work as a traveling confidant for them at from the age of twelve until you're sixteen which is where you travel around from town to town doing gym challenges in a certain region or just sightseeing and every now and then your sponsor professor will ask you to do a job for them that can't be done by just anybody. After you turn sixteen it turns into an apprenticeship with your old sponsor professor, and that goes until you are nineteen. I got in when I was twelve and did the sightseeing option as I had already competed in two Pokémon leagues. My grandpa, Professor Oak, was my sponsor professor which really helped out as I didn't have any travel time during my apprentice stage. Apprenticeships usually take five years to complete and are known to be extremely difficult. After the five years, or three if you go through being a junior researcher otherwise known as a traveling confidant, of being an apprentice otherwise known as a senior researcher you become a junior professor. After ten years of being a junior professor you become a proper professor. After twenty years of being a proper professor you become a senior professor. After being a senior professor for twenty years you become a master professor. Grandpa is a senior professor, and in about two or three years, he's going to become a master professor," Gary explained to Trevor.

"Wow, maybe I should try and get myself an apprenticeship. I would love to study Pokémon one day, it would be so amazing," Trevor gushed.

"Okay, before Trevor goes on a research tangent, Ash, what are you aiming for?" Shauna asked.

"Well, I'm aiming to destroy the different criminal organisations around the world. I have a personal vendetta against Team Rocket in Kanto and Johto for reasons that are not polite to say in civilised conversation. My teacher is keeping an eye on different media outlets for me and will notify me if there are any leads, but between leads, I'm taking the gym challenge just as a way to keep my Pokémon and I sharp," I explained.

"That sounds dangerous Ash, have you ever gotten hurt going against criminals?" Shauna asked.

"No, I always know when to pull back and retreat. I want to bring down criminal organisations, but I can recognise when I'm simply fighting a losing battle," I told Shauna.

"Wow, you must be really brave to go against criminal organisations," Trevor said.

"I'm just doing what I believe is right. Besides, I have a personal vendetta against Team Rocket, I won't stop until I have at least brought them down," I said with finality.

"What are you aiming for, Serena?" Shauna asked.

"I don't actually know to be honest. I like traveling, and I'm learning a lot from Ash about how to control my power. I really only started my journey because I didn't want to spend any more time training to be a Ryhorn racer like my mum when I knew I was never going to be a Ryhorn racer. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do, but I know I'll figure it out eventually," Serena admitted.

"That isn't the worst thing you could do. I mean, if you don't lock onto one thing, then you have so many options available to you. You just try new things and figure out what you like doing, sounds like a very relaxed lifestyle," Trevor commented.

"All right campers, it's time to head to campfire where we will be trading stories and camping out under the stars for the night. The group with the best story will get the honour of toasting the first bag of marshmallows for their own consumption!" Professor Sycamore announced. That announcement was met with lots of chatter and excitement in itself.

"What story should we tell?" Bonnie asked as we were walking down to the campfire.

"Leave the storytelling to me, it will be most effective if you don't know what I'm planning," I told my friends.

When it got to our turn to tell a story, Professor Sycamore asked who would be speaking. I simply stood up and crouched down right in front of the bonfire. I gathered some of my aura to use it to shape the fire into images of what I would be speaking of.

"This, is the story of the great power war, the story of Sir Aaron, and my ancestors," I announced making many of the listeners shiver.

"Aura Guardians and Psychics never got along. Four thousand years ago a war broke out between Aura Guardians and Psychics. The war was bloody and many people on both side were killed. Innocents were caught up in the mess of the war, families were ripped apart. Those who had the ability to control aura or psychic energies were tracked out at birth and torn from their families to be raised to fight for their cause. Eventually, villagers grew sick and tired of the war and they formed their own army so they could fight against the Aura Guardians and the Psychics. These villagers called themselves ninjas and they formed clans. Each clan had a name, a leader, and a set of skills that were unique to them. The war only become worse when the ninjas began fighting as well.

"After a thousand years of war, all three armies were about to commence in one last bloody battle at the edge of the kingdom of Rota. Sir Aaron was an Aura Guardian who had walked away from the war after falling in love with a Psychic woman named Amalthea. Sir Aaron has sworn to the Queen of Rota, who was Amalthea's older sister, that he would protect Rota with his life. Amalthea was panicking as the armies began to approach closer and closer, and this was not good for her as she was carrying a baby within her. Sir Aaron was becoming worried as well. If the armies fought on the edge of Rota, the whole kingdom would be engulfed and no one would be left alive.

"On the day when the armies were going to clash just outside of Rota, Sir Aaron urged his wife to run away, run to the safety of the mountains, just in case his plan did not work. Amalthea, crying all the while, agreed and fled the kingdom, not knowing she would never see her husband again. Sir Aaron, with a heavy heart, knowing that he would never see another sunrise, began his journey to the Tree of Beginnings far beyond the borders of Rota. The Tree of Beginnings was guarded by Lady Mew, and the tree was growing weak. Since the dawn of time the tree and the kingdom had been connected to each other, without one, the other did not exist. Sir Aaron gathered his aura in his palms and pushed all of his life force, his life aura into the tree. Waves of power rolled out from the tree and the armies that were on the verge of clashing stopped in their tracks, peace, safety, comfort, that was what they were experiencing. All three sides dropped their weapons and for the first time in their lives, looked at each other not as enemies on a battlefield, but strangers in a strange land together. Sir Aaron did not survive giving away all of his life aura but he died knowing not that he had fulfilled his vow to the queen, but knowing that he had saved the love of his life and their unborn child.

"Amalthea ran for days into the mountains, having felt her beloved die she could not bear to be around people. She refused to use her psychic powers and when she fell unconscious just outside the gates of a ninja clan, they welcomed her in. Amalthea had no desire to live anymore though, and she died in childbirth. Her daughter Auriella however grew up in that very same ninja clan. She eventually fell in love as well, and she died not knowing the true story of her mother and father. For generations Sir Aaron and Amalthea's descendants lived in that same ninja clan. Eventually they moved away from the clan when they stopped being able to use their ninja skills to the best of their abilities, and one day, a woman, named Delia Ketchum, moved to a town called Pallet Town where she gave birth four months later to her son, Ash Ketchum, who would inherit the powers of his ancestors," I recounted. The flames finished on an image of a woman holding a baby in her arms. The image began to fade as I looked up to my audience.

"Ash Ketchum's story is yet to be decided, his fate as of yet unwritten. Already he has faced trails, some he has overcome, others he is facing at this moment, and even more he has yet to face. One thing is for sure though, the story of his ancestors will never be forgotten again," I finished before sitting back in my spot in-between Serena and Bonnie.

"Thank you, Ash, for sharing that inspiring story. I just have one question though, how did you know about Sir Aaron and Amalthea if Auriella did not know her parents' stories?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"I visited the Tree of Beginnings a few years ago and encountered the aura ghost of Sir Aaron there as Aura Guardians who pour their life aura into an object stay anchored to that object as aura ghosts. In death, all people are connected and nothing is hidden, so when I spoke to Sir Aaron's aura ghost, he was quite confronted that I didn't know our family history so he told me our entire story. What I just recounted is the shorted version with less bloody details," I explained while lying a lot. Yes, I spoke to the aura ghost of Sir Aaron many times, but even in death no one is all-knowing. It was through my lessons with Dialga who showed me the history of my ancestors that I knew my family history.

"I see, thank you for sharing this with us, it was an incredible story," the professor said before calling on the next group.

At the end of the stories Professor Sycamore stood up.

"Well, we have had some truly amazing stories. Among my favourites is 'The White Hand', 'The Ketchum Family History', 'The Story of Buried Alive', 'The Clash of Primordial Titans' and 'Origin of the Forbidden Forest'. However, there can only be one winner, and after a great deal of debate, my assistants and I have decided that the winner is… 'The Ketchum Family History' told by Ash Ketchum of Team Froakie, which means Team Froakie get to toast the first marshmallows of the night," the professor announced. I was passed a bag of marshmallows but after tearing them open I passed them to Bonnie who gladly took up walking around the rows of people and handing out marshmallows to everyone.

"Everyone told good stories, so everyone should toast their marshmallows together," she declared. That statement was met with cheers and once everyone had a marshmallow, we all started toasting them and chatting to one another.

It took two marshmallow fights (one of which was fought using flaming marshmallows), many more stories being told about the constellations in the sky above us, and of course, many bathroom runs which ended up waking everyone who had already fallen asleep, before we fell asleep as a whole group, staff and campers, underneath the stars that blinked up above us.

 **A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry it took me this long to update, but I got Author's Block on many of the stories I'm writing (including my book and all my fanfictions that I'm writing in the background that I haven't published yet) and on top of that I went to the beach for two weeks and I finished this and the next chapter (which I won't publish for another two to four weeks to give me time to write the next chapter after that as school is going back very soon for me) while I was there but there was no internet so I couldn't update the story. It may not have seemed that important, but the fact that Serena, Bonnie, Clemont, Gary, and Ash all have some sort of musical talent is going to be very important next chapter.**

 **Well done to the reviewer who correctly guessed that all my OCs that I created have the same last names as actual authors of books. Rowling, Riordan, d'Lacey, Funke, Wilkinson, Paolini, O'Hearn, Rodda, Lowry, Morpurgo, Lochel, and Nimmo are all last names of actual authors. Rowling is J. who wrote Harry Potter, Riordan is Rick Riordan who wrote Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, Trials of Apollo, and Magnus Chase, d'Lacey is Chris d'Lacey who wrote the Last Dragon Chronicles and The Erth Dragons, Funke is Cornelia Funke who wrote the Inkheart Trilogy (and another series I can't remember the name of), Wilkinson is Carol Wilkinson who wrote the Dragonkeeper series, O'Hearn is Kate O'Hearn who wrote the Pegasus and the Flame series, Rodda is Emily Rodda who wrote the three doors trilogy (and probably more books I can't remember the names of), Lowry is Lois Lowry who wrote The Giver and some other books as well, Morpurgo is Michael Morpurgo who wrote many books such as 'Alone On A Wide, Wide Sea' and any others, Lochel are a duo of siblings named Nicolas and Alison Lochel and they wrote the Zarkora series, Nimmo is Jenny Nimmo who wrote the Secret Kingdom Trilogy and the Charlie Bone Series (and one other that I can't remember the name of).**

 **Going forward from that, all of Bonnie's Pokémon have now been decided, however, I need two electric types for Clemont. Review with your idea and next chapter I will put up a poll of my favourite ideas and you can vote on the ones you like. Pokémon from any and all regions are allowed. (Vikavolt has already been listed as one of Clemont's Pokémon so please no entries for Vikavolt).**

 **Okay, this is the list of currently accepted OCs, I still need more though (ones with an asterisk are mine): Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small, Riley Houston, Pietro Nimmo*.**

 **If your OC has not appeared on the list yet, don't worry, it is either because I haven't gotten around to looking at your submission (which is really horrible of me), have no idea how to write the OC to their best potential, or am having trouble figuring out how to give them an interaction with Ash and the others.**

 **We had our first mention of an OC, Emma Wilkinson (who is based off one of my friends at school, and she's a really good dancer who finds Cubone and Spheal cute, so she has an Alolan Marowak and a Walrein on her team as well as four others that will be revealed at a later date) and we also had our first glimpse of Clemont's relationship (if you can guess who you get virtual cookies, it shouldn't be too hard, I think, it'll be more obvious in the next chapter). One reviewer said how they liked learning more about what Ash has learned during his time in the Hall of Origin, so I just had to put in the story of the Great War, Sir Aaron, and Ash's ancestors. I had to explain his capability to be an Aura Guardian, a Psychic, AND a ninja somehow, especially since they normally don't get along. I also included in the bonfire story telling because I was toying with the idea of the first day being non-competitive which the story telling worked really well (I think) because they all would have gotten marshmallows in any case.**

 **Please, please review as it gives me an idea of what you do and don't like, and it always makes my day when people review.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever own Pokémon. The song, Hall of Fame does not belong to me either, nor have I ever claimed that it does.**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

The morning after campfire was a strange one. People were in all sorts of weird positions, Clemont and Shauna were curled up together for no reason, Serena was using me as a pillow, Bonnie was using Gary as a pillow, Tierno was on the other side of the area (the furthest place of where he was when we fell asleep) and he was resting against a tree... upside down, Trevor had his head half buried underneath the burnt out fire wood which turned his red hair black, and Professor Sycamore was actually curled up in what remained of the bonfire. There was a lot of yelling when people woke up to find out they were cuddling with strangers, or in the remains of the bonfire, or upside down nowhere near were they fell asleep, or many other confronting situations.

After we had all woken up and had showers and food, the activity for the day was announced. A fishing competition based on the size of the catch.

Serena reeled in a pretty large Lapras, Gary reeled in a Wartortle that turned out to belong to another one of the campers, Clemont hauled in a Lanturn which electrocuted him after being pulled out of the water, I snagged a pretty small Milotic, but it was Bonnie who caught the biggest catch, a larger than normal Wailord.

Everyone was surprised by the fact that the smallest camper had managed to bring in the largest catch. Another camper from Team Dratini also caught a Wailord, but it was average in size so Bonnie's Wailord won the competition. Our friends in Team Squirtle snagged third place.

That night there was a ceremony to release the water types we had reeled in back into the wild. Bonnie was sad to see her new Wailord friend go back to the wild, but she understood why it was necessary. The next morning, the next activity was about to be announced.

"The next activity is filming and creating a Pokévision video, but these ones will be a bit different. Every team will have a base amount of time of one minute as well as thirty additional seconds per member of their team in which to make their video. The winner will be decided by all of you with a vote, of course, you can't vote for your own team. Your video has to showcase the different skills of the members in your team. The prize for this activity is as always, ten points for first place, seven points for second place, three points for third place, and no points for everyone else, however, the winning video will be put out as a proper Pokévision video," Professor Sycamore announced. This caused a lot of whispering among the other campers.

"Because the amount of people in each team varies, this activity is to be completed by tomorrow evening. This time should allow you to do scripting, filming, editing, and any other things needed to make a great video. In order to help you show off your talents to the best of your abilities, we have many different hobby items, such as instruments, sporting equipment, baking and cooking equipment, and much more. The gymnasium and the music rooms are open to everyone, just remember that if another team is already in there to keep your distance or not enter. To help with the filming side of things, we are providing cameras, sound recorders, computers with editing software, and a whole room full of costumes," one of Professor Sycamore's assistants told everyone.

"Here is an example video to help you get some ideas of what you could do," the professor announced and a video began playing. It was a tour of Professor Sycamore's lab which captured his talent of connecting to Pokémon, and the different talents of his assistants and the many Pokémon at the lab.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get filming!" the professor yelled in excitement.

Serena and Shauna were both excited and neither could wait to get back to the cabins. Once there, the five of us began brainstorming.

"Why don't we use our musical talents to make a song? We get three and a half minutes, so we have enough time," Bonnie suggested.

"And just have us playing a song? That would be kind of boring, don't you think?" Serena criticized.

"Not if we just show us playing at the beginning and the end and have a montage of us doing the things we're best at while us playing the song is in the background," Clemont said.

"That sounds like a good idea. Gary, how long do you think it would take for you to write a song for us to perform?" I asked my friend.

"About three or four hours. If I start working on it while you guys start planning your things, then when I'm done, which should be midday, we can start filming. Tonight we can do the recording of the song. Then tomorrow morning we can do a bit more filming, and then editing in the afternoon," Gary planned out.

"That sounds like a good plan," Clemont said happily.

That morning, I taught Bonnie the correct way on how to break blocks of what would eventually stone. For now though, she would be practicing on foam. Serena practiced her piano skills and revised her different recipes as well as browsed through the different costumes that were up for borrowing while using her psychic powers to juggle things and lift heavier things. Clemont pulled out his violin and adjusted the strings to make sure they were all working properly before going to work on his inventions. Gary worked furiously on the sheets of music, testing things out, rubbing out things he didn't like, tapping out rhythms with his pencils. I grabbed a camera and started filming him, he would probably hate me for doing it, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

After eating lunch, Gary showed us the sheets of music and I was quite happy with the results.

"Okay, we have some lyrics, so we should try and do things that fit in with the lyrics. Why don't we go through the lyrics and mark the different lines with who can do what?" Clemont suggested.

We did just that and we found things that we could each showcase our abilities to. After that, we went over to the gymnasium and started our filming.

Six hours, many different locations, hundreds of film shots, a few wardrobe malfunctions, and an exploding invention later, we were eating dinner with our friends in team Squirtle.

"This video is really taxing. I never knew making a simple video could take so much work. I know that Shauna does these really often, but I don't know if I would ever be able to do something like this again," Trevor complained.

"I know what you mean. We've had to go to so many different locations, already done hundreds of different film shots, and even had wardrobe malfunctions! Not to mention one of my inventions blew up on camera," Clemont complained.

"Wow, you guys don't have much luck do you?" Shauna said sheepishly.

"Oh, we had lots of luck, we needed all those things to simply get our filming started. I won't spoil what we're planning, but let's just say we are very lucky we get three and a half minutes," Serena told Shauna teasingly.

"We're only using a minute and a half of the two and a half we're entitled to use. We just don't know what to do with two and a half minutes," Shauna said nonchalantly.

"Well, we'll just have to see which team is the best," Serena said with a smirk.

"Deal," Shauna said with a smirk on her face.

"Those two take their Pokévision videos way too seriously," Tierno commented.

"Agreed," Gary said with a nod.

After dinner, we bolted for one of the music rooms which I had scoped out earlier to make sure they had the right instruments. We filmed us walking into the room as a group and setting up a little bit (Serena sat down at a piano, Bonnie hopped up to the drum kit, Clemont put his violin into position, and Gary and I both walked over to the microphones).

That night was filled with laughter when we hit wrong notes, or we got out of time, but after three hours, and Bonnie was up way past her bed time as it was ten o'clock yet still full of energy, we had gotten the sound recording and the filming of us playing done.

I set the alarm for three in the morning as we wanted to get some shots at sunrise, and we were very tired the next morning. At breakfast Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno caught us out on that.

"We were busy doing more filming until ten last night, and we wanted to get some sunrise shots so we woke up at three in the morning, of course we look dead on our feet," Gary snapped at Shauna when she commented up us looking like we were 'zombies that had walked through a cyclone'.

By lunch, we each had fallen asleep at some point or another, and we had all been filmed falling asleep as a joke. After lunch, we blitzed through the editing, and by dinner, we had finished our video, as well as a blooper reel that went for two minutes and had videos of us falling asleep at the most random times, multiple musical stuff ups, tripping over things that we knew were supposed to be there, running into doors, and just plain fails all round.

"That, was a monster of a production. I think all five of us are running on adrenalin at the moment," Gary commented as we ate dinner.

"You really look like you are running on adrenalin," Trevor commented.

"Yes, well we managed to make a three-and-a-half-minute long video in under two days with only five hours sleep, as well as a two-minute-long blooper reel just for the heck of it. We aren't showing the blooper reel, but we just felt like doing it," Clemont said while shrugging before digging into his pasta.

After dinner, it was time to view all of the videos. When it finally got to our turn, Serena grabbed my hand because she was nervous. I just squeezed it gently and kissed her on the cheek.

 **(A/N:** _Italics are what is being seen in the video,_ **Bold is Ash singing,** Underlined is Gary singing, **bold and underlined is Ash and Gary together.)**

 _The only sound was out footsteps as the five of us were walking down a hallway and into the music room where Serena sat down at the piano, Clemont picked up a violin and put it into position, Bonnie got into position behind the drum kit, and Gary and I walked over to the microphones. Serena began playing piano and a caption with her name in her handwriting came up when the camera zoomed in on her._

 **Yeah you can be the greatest,**

 _Bonnie sitting on a seat at the edge of a battlefield looking bored…_

 **You can be the best,**

… _camera spins around to show Gary having a battle against me._

 **You can be the King-Kong**

 _Charizard and I showing off our muscles together…_

 **Banging on your chest.**

… _Charizard and I pounding on our chests together like Primapes._

You can beat the world,

 _Serena and her Pokémon in the kitchen cooking something…_

You can beat the war,

… _Serena stopping an oncoming fight featuring Bonnie, Dedenne, and Swablu versus Clemont, Chespin, and Bunelby by walking forward and offering food to Bonnie and Clemont with Fennekin putting down a small basket of PokéPuffs down in front of the other Pokémon._

You can talk to God,

 _Me doing crazy stunts in a clearing…_

Go banging on his door.

… _Me messing up on a flip and crashing my head against a rock._

 **You can throw your hands up,**

 _Serena throwing her hands in the air as Gary and I sit down at a table with mountains of food in front of us…_

 **You can beat the clock,**

… _Gary and I commence an eating competition with each other._

 **You can move a mountain,**

 _Serena using her psychic powers to lift up a giant rock that could pass for a mountain…_

 **You can break rocks.**

… _Me flying through the air and smashing the rock to pieces with the one kick._

You can be a master,

 _Gary and Clemont working together to fix one of his inventions…_

Don't wait for luck,

… _Clemont and Gary celebrating when the invention starts working again._

Dedicate yourself and,

 _Gary working on writing the song with a grim look on his face…_

You're going to find yourself.

… _Gary tapping out the rhythm he was working on with a smile on his face as Bonnie giggled silently behind him._

 **Standing in the hall of fame,**

 _All of us standing in a circle with our hands outstretched together in the centre as the camera panned around to show all of our faces._

 **And the world's gonna know your name,**

 _Back in the music room and Gary's name comes up in his handwriting while all of us are grooving to the beat._

 **Cause you burn with the brightest flame,**

 _Bonnie kicking at a thin sheet of wood in my hands and retracting her leg in pain when her leg simply skids off the board. I go to help her, but she shakes her head and gestures for me to hold up the wood again and then kicks straight through the board, successfully breaking it. The scene flashed white when Bonnie broke through the board showing that it was a moving photo on a white and gold wall._

 **And the world's gonna know your name,**

 _Back with us in the circle and us throwing our outstretched hand up to the sky…_

 **And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame.**

… _A flash of white and the scene becomes a moving picture on the wall._

 **You can go the distance,**

 _An in-the distance shot of all of us running along the beach at sunrise, Clemont lagging behind quite a-ways…_

 **You can run the mile,**

 _...Us stopping and me running back to Clemont who had collapsed on the sand. I help him up and we continue running together. The scene flashes white as it becomes a moving photo on the wall._

 **You can walk straight through hell**

 _All five of us covered in cuts and bruises as we walk through an overgrown ravine, the others downcast…_

 **With a smile.**

… _But I have a smile on my face and am urging them to keep up. A flash of white and the scene becomes yet another moving picture on the wall._

You can be the hero,

 _A news clip of me jumping off of Prism Tower to save Pikachu, a twist of the scene and I'm jumping off a cliff near the camp. The scene flashes white and it becomes a moving photo on the wall._

You can get the gold,

 _Bonnie stepping onto a winner's podium in an empty gymnasium and waving to an imaginary crowd._

Breaking all the records,

 _Random clips of people failing to run on water…_

They thought never could be broke.

 _.. Followed by me running across an entire lake of water. The scene flashes white and another moving picture is added to the wall._

 **Do it for your people,**

 _Me looking at a photo of me, Mum, Gary, and Professor Oak, and Serena when Gary, Serena, and I were just little kids…_

 **Do it for your pride,**

… _Gary grabbing my head as I look at the photo and giving me a noogie before I throw him off and a flash of white lights up and the scene becomes a moving picture on the wall._

 **You're never gonna know,**

 _Me demonstrating how to form an Aura Sphere to Gary who shakes his head as if he could never do it…_

 **If you never even try.**

… _Me punching Gary in the arm before he tries forming an Aura Sphere and succeeds. The scene flashes white before it turns into another moving picture on the wall._

Do it for your country,

 _A map of Kanto on a wall with red writing saying 'home' and an arrow pointing to Pallet Town..._

Do it for your name,

… _Camera zooms out to show Gary looking at a picture of us as kids with Professor Oak standing behind us, with the sign 'Oak Laboratories' above us. The scene flashes white as I pull the photo out of Gary's hands and the scene is added to the wall of moving pictures._

Cause there's gonna be a day,

 _A calm scene of the sun rising over the water, all of us standing on the beach, facing away from the camera as the scene flashes white and it is added to the wall of moving photos._

 **When you're standing in the hall of fame,**

 _All five of us in the music room as we groove to the beat…_

 **And the world's gonna know your name,**

… _Before switching to the elements we all feel most comfortable in. Clemont inventing in the cabin, Serena cooking in the kitchens, Bonnie playing with her Pokémon at the beach, Gary inspecting his Pokémon in a clearing, and me training against a martial arts training dummy in the gymnasium._

 **Cause you burn with the brightest flame,**

 _Clemont working on an invention as his name comes up in his handwriting just as an invention blows up in his face before he went straight back to work. A flash of white and the scene becomes a moving picture on the wall._

 **And the world's gonna know your name,**

 _Us walking in on Bonnie as she waves to the imaginary crowd. Bonnie goes to get down but we just jump up with her and Gary and I haul her onto our shoulders with her name coming up on screen…_

 **You'll be on the walls of the hall of fame.**

… _A flash of white fills the screen and the scene becomes a moving picture on the wall…_

 **Be a champion,**

… _A close up of Clemont…_

 **Be a champion,**

… _A close up of Bonnie…_

 **Be a champion,**

… _A close up of Gary…_

 **Be a champion,**

… _A close up of Serena…_

 **On the walls of the hall of fame.**

… _Me being pushed out of frame by Gary before Serena storms out of the picture and brings me back with her._

Be students **, be teachers,**

 _Bonnie performing a simple battle kata that I had taught her as I corrected the minor mistakes. A flash of white as it becomes another moving photo on the wall._

Be politicians, **be preachers,**

 _Serena, Gary, and Clemont having an argument. Another flash of white as the scene is added to the wall of moving pictures._

Be believers **, be leaders,**

 _Serena and Clemont working together to cook something while Gary, Bonnie and I are blindfolded and fed food that looks horrible but we react well to it. A flash of white goes off as Serena laughs at the screwed up reaction of Gary and the scene is added to the wall as another moving photo._

Be astronauts **, be champions,**

 _Me riding on Charizard as we climb higher and higher into the sky while the others stay on the ground shaking their heads at me and my antics. A flash goes off as Charizard and I fall back down and the scene is added to the wall._

 **Be true seekers,**

 _All five of us grooving along to the beat of the song as we sung/played._

Be students, **be teachers,**

 _Me and Serena with glowing blue eyes as I point to different floating items and she moves them with her psychic powers. A white flash filled the screen and then revealed the scene had become a moving picture on the wall._

Be politicians, **be preachers,**

 _Bonnie and Clemont in an agreement together with Gary attempting to play as mediator. A flash of white as Bonnie went to kick Clemont and the scene became another moving photo on the wall._

Be believers, **be leaders,**

 _Gary holding a map as he attempts to lead us through a forest. A flash of white goes off as he runs straight into a bush of thorns and the scene is added to the wall._

Be astronauts, **be champions,**

 _Clemont shooting off into the sky as his self-made jet pack works a little too well and the rest of us pull on the ropes connected to his jumpsuit to try and pull him back down to earth. A flash of white goes off as Clemont hits the ground and the scene is added to the wall of moving pictures._

 **Standing in the hall of fame,**

 _Back to the moving picture of the five of us as we dance around the podium together to the beat while Bonnie just sits on the edge of the podium and swings her legs with a goofy smile on her face…_

 **And the world's gonna know your name,**

 _... My name in my handwriting appears on screen as I strike a dramatic pose and the others attempt to push me off the podium again…_

 **Cause you burn with the brightest flame,**

… _Gary falling off the podium and hitting his head on the frame of the picture when I give him a push. He gets back up and pushes me back out of the photo but Bonnie pulls me back in._

 **And the world's gonna know your name,**

 _Us back in the music room where another flash of white goes off as we grove along to the beat…_

 **And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame.**

 _...Scene becomes another moving photo that is on the wall as we continue grooving to the beat._

 **Be a champion,** (you can be the greatest, you can be the best),

 _Back to my battle with Gary as it becomes another moving picture on the wall._

 **Be a champion,** (you can be the King-Kong banging on your chest),

 _Back to me and Charizard as we puff out our chests and pound on them as Gary attempts to make us laugh by poking us, the scene becomes another moving picture on the wall._

 **Be a champion,** (you can beat the world, you can beat the war),

 _Back to Serena solving the argument between Bonnie and Clemont, the scene becomes another moving photo on the wall._

 **Be a champion,** (you can talk to God, go banging on His door),

 _Back to me laying dazed on the ground after hitting my head on a rock, the scene becomes another moving picture on the wall as I slowly sit up._

 **Be a champion,** (you can throw your hands up, you can beat the clock),

 _Back to me and Gary having our eating competition as that scene becomes another moving photo on the wall._

 **Be a champion,** (you can move a mountain, you can break rocks),

 _Back to me and Serena in the clearing as she keeps lifting up rocks with her psychic powers that I keep attacking and smashing to pieces as the scene becomes another moving picture on the wall._

 **Be a champion,** (you can be a master, don't wait for luck),

 _Back to Gary and Clemont working on the invention before it blows up again as the scene turns into another moving photo on the wall._

 **Be a champion,** (dedicate yourself and you can go by yourself),

 _Back to Gary sitting at his desk, drumming out the rhythm he's working on unaware of his surroundings as the scene becomes another moving picture on the wall._

 **Standing in the hall of fame.**

 _The camera zooms out to show twenty-nine different moving photos and one big frame in middle with all our names on it in our own handwriting on the wall as it the music fades away and the screen fades to black._

There were a few seconds of silence after our video finished before there was an overwhelming chorus of applause and cheering. I turned to Serena who had been squeezing my hand the entire video and kissed her fully on the lips making many people in the hall wolf whistle as we were up in front of everyone.

Serena blushed but I just kissed her again when she did.

"Well done Team Froakie for that marvellous video. You did a tremendous job showcasing your talents, your relationships with each other, and even your faults. I was not expecting that at all," Professor Sycamore said to us.

After us was Team Fennekin who did a fire display as their video, Team Vivollion who did an impressive flying performance as their video, Team Squirtle who did a greeting video where they each said their name and the partner before showcasing the sorts of things they were good at (Trevor edited it so that some of his pictures that he had taken came up on top of each other one at a time as polaroids as showing off his love for photography would be hard to show otherwise), Team Eevee did a four-way dance battle to showcase their love of the dance style they enjoyed most (there was Ballet, Jazz, Break-dancing, and Tap dancing) and lastly there was team Electrike which did a video which showed one of their experiments (they were all aspiring scientists and their experiment actually went well for the most part).

After all of the videos, dessert was served and during that time we each had to write down on a piece of paper who we were voting for and then we had to place them in a box up the front.

"Your video was amazing Serena, I have no doubt you are going to win," Shauna complimented Serena.

"Thank you Shauna, but the whole idea came from Bonnie, I was the most sceptical of the idea at first in fact," Serena admitted.

"Well, it was really good either way. The photos idea was really well done too. It tied the whole things together, and the song you guys played together was awesome. Gary, you wrote it, didn't you?" Shauna asked.

"Yeah, it took me three hours to figure everything out. And when we were doing the sound recordings, we had to fix a few kinks, but I would have done a better job if I had more time to do it. Ash wasn't supposed to film me working though, and I thought it was meant to be a joke, but it managed to get into the final video AND the blooper reel," Gary explained.

"If that was how good your actual video was, then I really want to see that blooper reel," Trevor gushed.

"Alright campers, settle down. The results are in and in third place with two votes was Team Eevee! In second place with three points was Team Squirtle! And in first place with a landslide of every other vote, is Team Froakie which means Team Froakie are well ahead with twenty points. Team Squirtle is the closest in pursuit with ten points, and then it is Team Dratini on seven points and Team Eevee on three points. Well done Team Froakie, your video will be posted tomorrow with all your names as the creators," Professor Sycamore announced.

"We won, we won!" Serena squealed and she jumped into my arms. I swung her around in a circle and kissed her just for the heck of it. Our video was playing in the background but I couldn't care less. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Shauna had given Clemont a peck on the cheek, causing him to go as stiff as a board, and Bonnie almost began her routine of asking girls to marry Clemont with Shauna. Tierno began dancing to the song, and Trevor took a photo of me and Serena. Gary was arguing with the professor to try and get him to turn the video off, as he was embarrassed (not that he should be because it was a good video, and everyone knew it).

After all the excitement, we headed back to our cabin, and I knew we all need a long sleep as we were running on empty. We had all passed out before our heads hit the pillows (or before my head even rested against the rafter I was sleeping on in my case as there were only four beds).

 **A/N: Wow, this chapter really just flew from my fingertips. This is actually an early birthday gift to myself (I still can't drive this year though) and while I would prefer to post this on my actual birthday, I can't due to music camp not having internet capabilities. Now, just letting you know, the video was originally going to be a spy themed video where they showed a montage of what a 'normal' day for them would be with Serena doing 'profiles' of them and asking the views if they thought they could handle being in the team. But then I got 'Hall of Fame' by The Script and will. stuck in my head and this version was born. I told you hem having musical talents was going to be very important this chapter, in fact, their video was FIVE WHOLE PAGES long in Microsoft word. To put that in perspective, the whole chapter itself was ten pages long, so the video was HALF of the entire chapter...**

 **We got some cute fluff between Ash and Serena as well as between Clemont and Shauna, yes, I'm pairing them together, well done to the reviewer who spotted that. It was an impulse pairing when I wrote the last chapter, Clemont was originally not going to be with anyone and Gary was going to be with Miette, but then I decided to pair Gary with Misty and Clemont with Miette, then I change Clemont's pairing so he would be with Shauna. Poor Miette, she's going to be rejected by Ash, and got rejected by Gary and Clemont before she even got a chance to like them, talk about tough luck. We also got a funny bit at the end where Ash fell asleep in the rafters (sorry I've been reading Avengers fanfiction lately and many of them feature Clint Barton falling asleep or chilling out in rafters and ventilation pipes so I got influenced a bit).**

 **I've already got the whole camp scoring system figured out and I must say, looking at the scores, they are totally rigged in favour of Team Froakie and Team Squirtle. And I'm talking they get up to forty points, and the next closest is SEVEN points.**

 **The Current OC list is (I still need more people! Oh, and the ones with an asterisk are mine):** **Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small, Riley Houston, Pietro Nimmo*, Leoniz Arlean, Caspar Hawke*.**

 **The options for Clemont's Pokémon are:**

 **\- Zebstrika**

 **\- Galvantula**

 **\- Eelektross**

 **\- Electivire**

 **\- Togedemaru**

 **Please put in your review which option you are voting for.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 6.**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

It came to no surprise that we all slept in until very late, and we almost missed breakfast (we didn't, but we still only got a few mouthfuls in).

"Alright, today's activity is Pokémon Orienteering. You will each be given a map and there are twenty stations around camp that you have to go to and get a stamp from. As per usual, first place gets ten points, second place gets seven points, third place gets three points and everyone else gets none. In order to get points though, your whole team has to cross the finish line with all twenty stations on your stamp card. Does everyone understand? Good, ready, set, go!" Professor Sycamore announced. I raced over and grabbed a map and stamp card as the others were racing outside.

"Okay, the first one isn't too far away, so let's get going," I told them while looking at the map. We headed off to the first station, and we got there first, with Team Squirtle not too far behind.

We went from station to station, and got the stamps, but halfway between station ten and station eleven Bonnie told me she needed to pee.

"Okay, go quickly behind a tree or a bush and then run to catch up," I told her.

"Thanks Ash, I'll be really quick, I promise," Bonnie told me. I kept walking with the others as we got to station eleven and headed out for the next one.

"Hey, where's Bonnie?" Gary asked abruptly. I stopped in my tracks. She told me she was going to be quick.

"Damn it. She told me she needed to pee so I told her to go behind a tree or something and then hurry to catch up, and she promised she would be quick, but she hasn't caught up. We need to turn back," I explained as I turned to run back in the opposite direction. Gary, Clemont, and Serena followed me without hesitation.

"Where are you guys going? The next station is the other way!" Tierno asked us as we passed them.

"Bonnie's missing. She went for a pee and hasn't caught back up," I explained quickly.

"We'll help you look," Shauna offered quickly.

"No, you guys keep going. There's no reason both our teams should lose over this. I should have stayed back with Bonnie to make sure she caught up. Make sure you get first place for both our teams," I told them.

"Okay, we'll let Professor Sycamore or one of the assistants know about Bonnie missing too," Trevor said in agreement. After that, we parted ways again.

"Alright, Lucario, come out," I said as I called out Lucario. "Lucario, Bonnie's gone missing. Can you activate your aura sight and help us look?" Lucario nodded in reply. "Charizard, your turn," I said as I brought out Charizard. "Charizard, Bonnie is missing. Go into the air and look for her from above." Charizard grunted in reply and took off.

"Good idea, Ash," Gary said and he called out Hawlucha and Fletchling. "Hawlucha, Fletchling, head into the air and look for Bonnie, she's gone missing." The two flying types took off and began their own search.

"We should split up to search more area," Clemont suggested.

"No, we're already split up. If we each go by ourselves, we run a risk of losing more members of the group. We'll go in twos. Lucario, you go with Gary and Serena, Clemont, you and I can go together. This way, if either party finds Bonnie, Serena and I can connect telepathically. Does this make sense?" I explained.

"Yeah," the others agreed.

Clemont and I went west, while Lucario and the others went east. The forest was thick and Clemont found it hard to get through at times, but after what seemed like forever, we still hadn't found Bonnie.

"I need a rest, if I keep going much longer, I'll collapse," Clemont complained. I sighed.

"Alright, stay here, don't go any further. I'll come back in half an hour if I don't find any leads. If you get in trouble, scream," I told Clemont who nodded in reply and sat down on a fallen log. I continued walking forward until I found myself in front of Lady Xerneas.

"Chosen One," her ladyship addressed me.

"Lady Xerneas, why have you come here?" I asked respectfully.

"I am looking for a place to settle down, but Lord Arceus asked me to pass on a message if I crossed paths with you. Celebi is planning to return to Crown City in the coming months, and Lord Arceus would like you to go and make sure nothing bad happens to Celebi," Lady Xerneas told me.

"I understand. I shall keep an eye out for the convergence of time energy," I replied with a bow.

"Why are you here though Chosen One? You do not enter an unfamiliar forest for no reason after all. Lord Arceus taught you that personally," Lady Xerneas asked me.

"My student, Bonnie, has gone missing. I am searching for her," I informed her ladyship. Lady Xerneas inclined her head to the south.

"Not too far from here, there is a chasm and I can feel the life force of a young human at the bottom. Their life force is fading though, you should hurry," Lady Xerneas told me.

"Thank you for this information,' I tell the legendary before racing south to find Bonnie. It wasn't long before I came to the chasm. I looked around before I looked down into the chasm. Down, right at the bottom, was Bonnie, with blood on her skirt, shirt, face, and in her hair. She was half in a small stream and I cursed. This was not good.

I climbed down the cliff face of the chasm, trying to keep away from any loose rocks so they didn't land on Bonnie. By the time I got to the bottom, I was getting more and more worried. The sky was getting dark, and Bonnie was injured. Not to mention that Dedenne and Swablu were nowhere to be seen. In fact, I couldn't even see Bonnie's bag at all.

I closed my eyes and extended my psychic powers outwards, looking for Clemont.

"Clemont, I found Bonnie, but she's not in a good way. Dedenne and Swablu aren't here though. It's too dark for you to come here, and Bonnie and I are at the bottom of a chasm. Head back towards camp, tell them that I'm with Bonnie and that in the morning, I may need help bringing Bonnie out of the chasm. Until then, I'll keep watch over Bonnie and try and find Dedenne and Swablu," I told Clemont telepathically.

I stretched my power further out to find Serena. "Serena, it's Ash. I'm with Bonnie, but she's not in a good shape. We're at the bottom of a chasm and it is too dangerous to levitate Bonnie out in the dark, especially without getting someone to check Bonnie's injuries first. Dedenne and Swablu are missing. Head back to camp, Clemont is going there too. Lucario will be able to find me when morning comes, so bring help to get Bonnie out of this chasm." I told Serena telepathically.

"Oh thank goodness you found Bonnie. We found her bag with Dedenne and Swablu nearby really panicking about half an hour ago, but we saw no sign of Bonnie. We'll head back now. Other campers have joined in the search too, everyone's really worried. Are you sure you can stay out all night?" Serena replied.

"I'll be fine, Serena, I'm just worried about Bonnie," I reassured Serena.

I wiped off some of the blood that was trickling onto Bonnie's face with my hand and tried to pinpoint where the blood was coming from. I found lots of cuts covering her face, some bruising, and a large gash above her left eye that had blood pouring from it. I extended my aura to touch hers and her aura was weak and barely responsive.

Cursing, I pulled off my jacket, and then my shirt as it was softer before dipping it into the stream and began cleaning the gash. It was deeper than it looked, and it would probably need stitches too. Once I had finished cleaning the gash, I put my jacket back on and tied my shirt around Bonnie's head-wound to keep it from bleeding too heavily, I looked for somewhere we would be sheltered for the night.

There was an outcrop of rock over on the other side of the stream but it would shelter the two of us from any rain, and it was still close to the stream to I could keep her cuts clean. I picked up Bonnie and jumped over the stream and laid her down underneath the outcrop of rock. I looked around for anything that might make it easier for Bonnie to rest, but couldn't find anything.

I looked back at Bonnie to see how she was doing, only to find her shivering. I cursed once again for letting this happen before pulling off my jacket once again and wrapping it around Bonnie as best I could.

Once I had gotten Bonnie into as comfortable position as possible, I wrapped my aura around her and poured as much of my aura into her in order to keep her aura from fading away completely. You can survive losing a leg or an arm, or even being a quadriplegic, but if a person's aura faded completely, there was no coming back from that. For that reason, I focused on keeping Bonnie's aura levels stable instead of healing her wounds completely.

The night was cold and drizzly, and many times, I wondered if Bonnie was okay, but I just had to keep watch over her as best I could, which meant no sleeping for me. I couldn't get a fire going, and I had left Pikachu back at the cabin because he was very tired and grumpy this morning so he wasn't around to make a fire with his Iron Tail against a stone, so I tried to give Bonnie as much of my body heat as possible to keep her warm. Eventually, morning came. The warm rays of sunlight were very much welcome and Bonnie finally stopped shivering.

Hours passed, but eventually, Lucario bounded down the sides of the chasm and I heard people calling out above.

"Ash! Bonnie! Are you down there?!" Professor Sycamore was calling.

"We're down here!" I called back as I stepped out from under the outcrop of rock I had spent the night under.

"We're sending down Nurse Joy and some volunteers to help you get back up again!" Professor Sycamore informed me.

"Alright!" I called back.

It wasn't long before Nurse Joy was down beside me and I showed her to Bonnie.

"I kept her as warm as I could and cleaned her cuts as best I could, but she hasn't woken up yet. I would have used my powers to levitate us out, but I wasn't sure if it was safe to do so. She was half in the stream when I found her," I informed the nurse.

"You did a good job. This gash above her eye will need stiches, and she might have hypothermia from being in the water, but we just don't know. She also looks like her right arm is broken. I'd like to give you a check-up once we get back as well since you've been out all night in the cold," Nurse Joy replied.

"I'm fine, trust me. A bit hungry, thirsty, and tired, but nothing some good food, a big drink, and sleep won't fix," I told the nurse.

"I believe you, but I just want to give you a check-up to be on the safe side," Nurse Joy insisted. I knew it was a futile attempt to keep protesting so I submitted. Nurse Joys are one of the things that can make a grown man scared, because no matter how innocent they looked, they are all stubborn as hell and extremely protective. I used to think growing up that my own mother was a Nurse Joy in disguise because of how similar she was to all other Nurse Joys.

"Alright. Just to be on the safe side. Besides, I think my girlfriend would drag me to that check-up even if I said no," I admitted.

"Smart girl," Nurse Joy said with a smile.

"What is the best way to transport her up?" I asked.

"Well, we don't know what broken bones she has, so whatever means of transport that will jolt her the least," the nurse told me.

"I have psychic powers. I could hold Bonnie and take us both up. It wouldn't actually jolt her," I suggested.

"Yes, that sounds like the best plan," she replied.

"Professor Sycamore! Ash will be using his psychic powers to bring him and Bonnie up. The volunteers will bring me back up!" Nurse Joy yelled up to the Professor.

"Okay, but be careful!" was the reply.

Once Nurse Joy had given me the all clear, I carefully picked up Bonnie in my arms and focused my psychic powers around me and Bonnie. I began to lift us up into the air, and slowly, I rose into the air and after a minute or two, I reached the top and careful set myself back down. There was a stretcher waiting and I placed bonnie on it carefully.

Serena tackled me as soon as I put Bonnie down and I fell onto the grass with a slight bump.

"Ash Ketchum, don't you ever, ever, do something like that again. Do you know how worried I was? I couldn't sleep last night I was so worried about you and Bonnie. If you ever do something like that ever again, I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be nice on any accounts," Serena scolded me as she crushed the air out of my lungs. Serena probably is related to all the Nurse Joys as well with the way she just scolded me.

"Yes Serena, but you know that I can't promise you anything? After all, when I promised my own mother that I would stay safe on my journey when I set out at ten years old, I got hit by lightning and went missing for ten years and was declared 'dead' by officials. I don't have a good track record with promises. Though, by all means, if I do something that scares you out of your mind, feel free to punish me however you see fit," I told her.

"Ash, that's not the point. I was so worried about you that I couldn't sleep. I set out from my home to find you and return your handkerchief to you, and it turned into so much more, so if something happened to you, I wouldn't have a reason to keep traveling. I was so worried about whether or not you were okay, because you're more than just my boyfriend to me, you're my teacher, my best friend, my -," Serena began ranting before I shut her up with a kiss.

"Serena, I would never put myself in danger for no reason. I can't promise you that I will never leave your side because of what my job is, but I promise you, right here, right now, that no matter what, I will always come back to you, no matter if I have to spend a thousand years searching the realms for you. I promise," I told her.

"You better," Serena told me. I was put on a stretcher as well because of reasons I couldn't understand, I was fine, and then we were all taken back to camp where Bonnie and I were set up in the med bay.

As the hours passed, I dozed lightly and ate good filling food. Serena and Gary drifted in and out of the med bay. Serena more than Gary though as Gary had research he needed to do. Clemont had taken up residence on an armchair to wait for Bonnie to wake up. A few hours after lunchtime, Bonnie finally woke up.

"Where am I?" Bonnie mumbled.

"You're in the med bay back at camp. What the heck happened, Bonnie?" I told her.

"Ash, I'm so sorry. I heard a teddiursa and it sounded hurt. I wanted to help it so I followed it and as I was picking it up to bring it back to Nurse Joy, an Ursaring came up and attacked me. Dedenne tried to defend me, but she wasn't strong enough and Swablu fell out of my bag. The next thing I knew I was being thrown down a crevice and then nothing until I woke up here," Bonnie told me.

"Oh, Bonnie, has no one ever told you that you don't approach wild Pokémon, that you always let them come to you? Wild Pokémon are not like the ones with trainers. They are fierce and they will attack if you threaten them or their precious ones. They do not care if you are injured or even killed so long as you are no longer a danger to them. Bonnie, you have absolutely no idea how worried I was. When I found you, you were down a crevice and you were very close to dying. I never want to see you in that condition again," I told her and she was crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just wanted to help Teddiursa," Bonnie sobbed.

I wrapped my arms around her and stroked her hair.

"I know, I know Bonnie, I know, but that doesn't change the fact that you had everyone so very worried," I told her softly. "I may know how to mourn, I may know how to fight and protect those I care about, but I don't know how to grieve. I don't know what I would do if I lost you Bonnie, I could end up doing anything, I could become the very thing I hate, so don't you dare do anything like that again." Bonnie had a cast on her right arm, and there were bandages around where the more severe gashes were. Bonnie stroked the cast with her left hand and I frowned, but she wasn't crying anymore at least.

"Are you in any pain?" I asked her softly.

"No, I just feel numb," she told me.

"That's good. If you could feel pain right now, you would be in a lot of pain. Your right radius was completely snapped and your right ulna has two fractures. You also have deep gashes everywhere, and you had to get one stitched up on your head," I informed my student.

"When do I get to leave the med bay?" Bonnie asked me with large eyes.

"Tomorrow," I told her quietly but before she could say anything else I interrupted her, "but, you won't be going back to martial arts training for at least nine months. Your broken bones just aren't strong enough to punch and things like that, and you won't be able to balance your kicks without the use of your arms. Instead, I will be teaching you a method of meditational elemental control. It will allow you to subtly influence the elements around you when you achieve a deep focus through meditation. It is this that we will build upon, when it comes time for you to learn how to manipulate the elements, and utilize the ninja elemental techniques."

"Okay…" Bonnie said quietly before murmuring something too soft for me to hear.

"What was that little Caterpie?" I asked her using the pet name I had given her weeks ago. Bonnie started crying again and fisted her left hand into my shirt.

"I'm sorry I made you so worried, I should have known better," she cried.

"Hey, it wasn't just me you got worried, Dedenne, Swablu, Clemont, Serena, Gary, Professor Sycamore, the workers around camp, Tierno, Trevor, Shauna, all the other campers, and even Lady Xerneas who came to pass on a message from my teacher but told me where I could find you and that you badly needed my help. Lady Xerneas doesn't do that for just anyone, she only helps those whose lives burn bright as the sun and love and care for all living beings, that says a lot about you Bonnie. Yes, you should have known better and you shouldn't have been so reckless. Yes, you made us worry, and today's activity was cancelled to search for you, but no one cares because at least you are safe now," I told her as I rubbed her back. Clemont was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake him, he hadn't been able to sleep with Bonnie in danger and he was just as tired as I was because of it.

For ten minutes, Bonnie sobbed into my shirt, and that was how Clemont found us when he woke up. Bonnie had sobbed herself back to sleep and I was just holding her as she was still crying in her sleep.

"She woke up not too long ago. I asked what had happened and she told me that she was just trying to help an injured Teddiursa, but an Ursaring didn't take to kindly to that. I explained to her in detail why what she did was wrong, and she just got very upset over making everyone worried. She doesn't even care that she almost died," I explained to Clemont.

"Was she in pain?" he asked.

"No, I asked her about that and she told me that she just felt numb," I replied.

"That's good, at least she isn't in pain," Clemont conceded.

"Agreed," was all I said as I gently removed myself from Bonnie and laid her back down on her bed. Clemont walked over to Bonnie's side and I left the two of them to go find Nurse Joy. I did find her, just not the way I wanted to.

"Ash Ketchum, what do you think you are doing? Leaving the med bay?" Nurse Joy snapped at me.

"I was looking for you to inform you that Bonnie woke up briefly just now. She fell back asleep though," I explained.

"Alright. You are free to leave anyway, you just need to come back for a check-up tomorrow," Nurse Joy told me before going to check on Bonnie.

I immediately went to find Serena and found her levitating a heavy book on medicine as she read it on the beach.

"What is a beautiful woman like you doing here, reading a book on medicine?" I asked in a deep voice. Serena didn't even turn to face me but sent the book flying towards me to hit me on the head.

"None of your business, pervert," she snapped. I stopped the book hitting me with my own powers and when Serena didn't hear me being hit by the book she turned around slowly.

"Is that any way to treat your boyfriend who just got out of med bay?" I asked her.

"You idiot! I thought you were some pervert trying to get into my pants," Serena told me while hitting me around my head.

"I get it, no creeping you out," I conceded. "Though I am happy to know that you automatically go on the defence when someone creepy is around."

"Yeah, well, the amount of times my mother has told me 'if a strange man comes up to you and starts complimenting you for no reason, he's up to no good' has kind of stuck. I'd rather have to apologise than to regret not taking action and ending up hurt," Serena explained softly before sitting down. Realising that I should sit down as well, I sat down on the sand.

"Your mother had the right idea. I should thank her sometime," I say in reply.

"You would say that," Serena mumbled.

"Bonnie woke up just before," I informed her.

"Did she? Did she explain what happened?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, she heard a wild Teddiursa calling out for help when she went off to pee. Bonnie being the kind hearted little girls that she is, went to help that Teddiursa, but an Ursaring was nearby and didn't take kindly to Bonnie approaching its child. Dedenne apparently tried to defend Bonnie but wasn't quite strong enough and got knocked out while Swablu fell out of Bonnie's bag in all the commotion. Urasaring carried Bonnie off and threw her down the ravine," I recounted.

"I'm guessing that you gave her the speech about how wild Pokémon are dangerous and you should approach them, even if they are injured, especially if they are a young Pokémon?" Serena asked me.

"Of course I did. My job may be to help all Pokémon, but even I have to take extra care with wild Pokémon because they don't always think the same way that a Pokémon with a trainer would," I replied. We continued chatting with each other for a few hours before Serena jumped up and started running off down the beach.

"Catch me if you can!" she yelled behind her.

"Don't think I won't!" I yelled back as I stood up and took off after her. Serena was a fast runner, that is for sure, and she used her psychic powers to moved herself faster, lifting herself above the sand so it didn't get in her way, and danced out of my arms every time I got close. However, I wasn't able to run on water for nothing.

It took me a while, perhaps twenty minutes, but I caught her in my arms. Looking out over the water, the sunset was incredible.

"It is beautiful," Serena commented as she gazed out at the ocean and the sunset.

"I can see something even more beautiful, and her name is Serena," I whispered into her ear from behind.

"Ash!" Serena protested.

"It's true. To me, the sunset is stunning, but it pales in comparison to the beauty that you hold," I tell her. She turns around in my arms and looks me straight into my eyes.

"I sometimes wonder why you even like me," she tells me.

"I don't like you, Serena," I say softly.

"What? But you said-?" Serena spluttered as she pushed my arms away and began to storm off.

"I don't like you Serena, because you mean so much more to me," I call out to her. She falters in her steps and looks back at me. "You light up my world in a way that no one has ever done for me, you give me something else to fight for, you challenge me to be something that I'm not used to being. And most of all, I could never like you, because I fell in love with you weeks ago, and I'm not about to fall out of love any time soon."

I walk slowly forward to her and pull her into my arms. "Serena, I could never like you, because I'm in love with you, only you. There is no one out there that could ever hope to hold my heart the way you do, Serena, absolutely no one," I whisper to her softly.

"If this is love, then I don't want to lose it," she replies.

"And you won't, because I will always love you," I tell her. Serena kisses me, and I smile into the kiss. When we finally pull away I put my hand into my pocket and pull out a spoon. "Now, bend the spoon," I say with a smile as I throw the spoon into the ocean. Serena laughs and focuses her power outwards, searching for the spoon. Within moments, she had the spoon in her hand, bent over double.

"And to think I once couldn't bend the spoon at all," she says with a laugh.

"Indeed. And to think that I used to put my life in danger for the sake of a single Pokémon. Wait a moment, I still do that," I say as a joke.

Serena punches me in the stomach lightly at my bad attempt at a joke, after all, I'm not the best with jokes. We then begin the walk back to camp together. It takes us an hour as we had run a very long way, but we get there eventually.

"Where have you two been?" Shauna asks us as we enter the dinning hall.

"We went for a rather long walk on the beach," Serena explained to her.

"Oo-la-la! Love is in the air! I hope you two used protection during your 'rather long walk on the beach'," Shauna teased. I went stiff at that, after all I wasn't comfortable with that sort of thing after learning of my father's, interests, and Serena scowled at Shauna.

"Shauna! That is too far. Ash isn't like that, we haven't done anything like what are suggesting that we have. For a matter of fact, what you just insinuated is a rather sore point for Ash, so don't you dare try and make it seem like we have been doing anything other what I say we've been doing. Ash and I took a walk along the beach, we talked, had maybe two kisses in total, and watched the sunset. That is it," Serena scolded the slightly younger girl, making Shauna bow her head in shame.

"I, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend," Shauna said softly.

"It's alright, Shauna, you simply didn't think before you spoke. Next time, why don't you consider how your words will affect those whom they are targeted at before you speak," I say calmly.

The night went by without any other incidents, but there was a new warning being passed around camp to remind everyone that wild Pokémon are dangerous and to keep a good distance from them for their own safety.

Before we went to bed, Serena, Gary, Clemont and I went to go check in with Bonnie, who was still being cared for under the watchful eye of Nurse Joy.

"How are you feeling, Kiddo?" Gary asked her.

"Tired," Bonnie replied with a yawn.

"Do you want us to leave so you can sleep?" Serena asked softly.

"No, I want you to stay, just for a little longer," Bonnie protested.

"Then we will stay until you fall asleep," I tell her.

"Kay," Bonnie replied as her eyes fluttered closed and she yawned. It was only a few moments later that she was fully asleep.

"Poor Kiddo, she doesn't deserve this," Gary stated even as Clemont kissed her on the forehead.

"I wish I could have helped her sooner," Clemont said softly.

"Clemont, don't you dare blame yourself. If anyone is allowed to blame themselves, it is me. I let Bonnie go off on her own, I was the one that didn't realise she was missing sooner, if anyone is to blame, then it is me," I tell him.

"But she's my little sister! I'm supposed to look after her, make sure that she's safe, keep her out of danger! I should have done more," Clemont protested.

"Clemont, snap out of it. There is nothing you could have done. Even if you had been with Bonnie, you would have gotten hurt as well and that would have made Bonnie upset because you would have gotten hurt on her account. You did everything that you could, and that is what matters," I tell him sternly.

"Ash is right, Clemont, there is nothing you could have done to change what happened. You did your best, and that is all Bonnie could ever ask. I think that she's probably more upset about worrying us than her being put in danger," Serena said to back me up.

"I know, I know, it's just, she's my little sister, I'm supposed to be responsible for her," Clemont admitted.

"No, we all have to be responsible, Clemont. Bonnie is my student, as such, I have to take extra responsibility for her. She is your younger sister, so you have to watch over her as her older brother. Serena is the only female role model for Bonnie in our group, so Serena has a certain extent of responsibility. Gary is a junior professor, as such he is honour bound by his profession to keep an eye out for younger than normal trainers, which Bonnie now qualifies as. We all have to watch out for Bonnie, not just you, Clemont, so you can't shoulder the blame by yourself, because you aren't to blame at all," I told him.

After that, we headed back to our cabin, an uneasy silence reigning over us. Serena and I couldn't sleep so we spent an hour on the bench outside the cabin just sitting together, not even talking.

"You really had me worried when you said you didn't like me," Serena eventually told me in a soft voice.

"I could tell. But one thing that Father Arceus and my mother always told me was to never lie. I will not lie to you Serena, ever. It is true that I don't like you, because my feelings for you go far beyond 'like'. I'm know what I feel for you is love. You are constantly on my mind, no matter what I do. I want to be by your side all the time, even if you don't want me at your side. I want to make you laugh and smile because when you smile, you shine and light up my world, when you laugh, it is the most beautiful sound in the world. I hate seeing you crying or upset because to see you like makes me feel like I've failed to make you happy. Serena, I never expected to find love, nor did I want to. I did not wish to risk the safety of whomever I fell in love with. But then you came along, and you turned my views upside down. I told myself that it wasn't safe for you, that I couldn't put you in danger, but my heart wouldn't listen to my head. I love you Serena, more than you could imagine," I explained to her.

"You're so sappy. You could have just told me that you loved me," Serena told me in a scolding tone.

"But then I would be lying, and I will never lie to you, absolutely never," I say strongly.

"I know, that's just part of who you are, and I, I'm not sure if it is love, but I think it is, and if I'm right, then I do love you," Serena replied.

"Now who's being sappy," I tease her.

"Oh hush," Serena scolded me again. For a few moments there was silence as Serena rested her head on my shoulder.

"I can't imagine not having you in my life anymore," I say softly and look down at Serena, only to find her eyes closed as she slept. "I guess that means it is time to head inside then," I said to myself before carefully picking up Serena and carrying her inside. I put her in her bed and pulled the covers up over her before going up into the rafters to sleep for myself.

As I drifted off to sleep, I thought of Bonnie, of what I could have done to avoid the situation, and how I could have handled the slight drama with Serena better. It all turned out fine, but I knew looking back that I could have done more. So, as I closed my eyes to sleep, despite telling Clemont that he shouldn't blame himself for Bonnie getting hurt, I blamed myself for Bonnie even being put in a position where she could get hurt.

You did everything you could, my son. You saved her life, you should be proud of the man that you have become. I heard Father-Arceus tell me just before my mind drifted into dreams.

 **A/N: Alright, that is another chapter done. I'm sorry to the reviewer who thought there would be no Xerneas cameo, but I needed to put it in to explain the events of the cocoon of destruction and then a lead in to the Zoroark master of illusion in the order that I am putting them. On that note, I probably won't be having Ash and the others go through Sinnoh, mainly because he will travel there on mission for the biggest events, the first of which will be Zoroark Master of Illusions. The current order of regions Ash will travel through is: Kalos (Obviously) – Unova (You'll see why later on) – Kanto (Have to return home sometime) – Jhoto (Resonably close) – Hoenn (Serena's time to really shine) – Alola (Teaching positions after so long).**

 **Ash was so worried about Bonnie in this chapter, which shows just how dedicated he is to keeping her safe (her safety is a priority to him as she is her student), and the lengths he was willing to go to just warmed my heart even as I wrote it. Ash and Serena had a slight fight, not a huge one, and Shauna overstepped the line and got told off by Serena. It's probably for the best as she, Tierno, and Trevor kind of have a habit of overstepping the line a bit (in my opinion).**

 **The Current OC list is (and I still need more, people! Only at a total of 27 and not all of them are for the tournament. Oh, and the ones with an asterisk are mine) : Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small, Riley Houston, Pietro Nimmo*, Leoniz Arlean, Caspar Hawke*, Itachi Orihara.**

 **The current results for the Poll on Clemonts last two pokemon are as follows:**

 **\- Zebstrika: 0**

 **\- Galvantula: 1**

 **\- Eelektross: 0**

 **\- Electivire: 1**

 **\- Togedemaru: 0**

 **Please put in your review which option you are voting for.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

I woke before the sun rose in the morning, remembering the words Father-Arceus spoke to me before I fell asleep; I went for a walk on the beach. It was dark, and the water was dark blue, the sand a dark grey. The moon cast silver streaks across the water; it was a beautiful sight.

Taking a deep breath, I began a kata, a battle dance that helps to focus the mind. I didn't have to think about the movements, they simply came to me and my eyes closed by themselves. The movements flowed as smoothly as water as I began to pull on the ninja technique of water manipulation.

I felt the water crash onto the beach and urged it to stay, lapping around my ankles and then nudged it into the air to wrap around me like a cocoon. It spiralled around me and then opened itself outward and flowed away from the point where my feet were. I took a deep breath and released the control of the water. It ran down the sand and back into the ocean, and when I opened my eyes, the sun had risen and gold shone on the waves.

"It really is a beautiful morning, isn't it?" I heard someone say behind me. I turned around to find Mewtwo standing there with a heavy overcoat on to disguise his non-human traits.

"What are you doing here, Mewtwo?" I ask.

"Lord Arceus has asked me to give you a heads up. Your birth father has learned of the existence of your half-brother, Silver. Silver was not born of rape, but his mother was not exactly willing to be the partner of her boss and left Team Rocket after learning of her pregnancy. Mother-Mew believes that it is very possible that your birth father will learn of your existence soon as well," Mewtwo explained.

"Is my brother doing well?" I ask.

"He is a criminal, doing what he has to do to survive, but other than that, he is doing well. His mother on the other hand is not doing so well. She is ill, barely makes enough money in her job to survive, so Silver tries to support them both," Mewtwo replied. I pulled out my wallet and pulled some money out of it, it wasn't a huge amount, but it would be enough to buy food for two people for about a month.

"Give this to Silver along with a note that I am going to write right now," I tell Mewtwo before pulling out a pen and paper. Once done, I read back over the note.

 _To Silver,_

 _I know that this may sound sudden, and I only recently learned that we are related, but I am your older half-brother, we share the same vile father. One of my acquaintances who is travelling Jhoto at the moment told me about how you were having to live the life of a criminal to support you and your mother. I know this isn't much, but it should last you to buy food for two people for a month._

 _I wish I could do more to help you, but at the moment, my anonymity is my best defence and I cannot spare much money myself. I hope that this helps though, and maybe one day we can meet in person as brothers when it is safe to do so, I know my own mother would most likely treat you as if you were her own, she tends to mother hen people a lot. I hope that when our father is finally put behind bars, I can share my true name with you, but until then, please remember that you are not alone in your struggles, you have your mother and your half-brother here to help you, even if I can only help from a distance._

 _From,_

 _Your older half-brother 'Ignatius'_

 _Oh, and feel free to write a letter back, my acquaintance will keep an eye out for any and send them to me for you._

"This is really what you want to tell your brother?" Mewtwo asked.

"Yes, it is all I can tell him for now. Could you keep an eye on him and if he writes a letter for me, would you bring it to me, please?" I asked Mewtwo.

"Yes, I see no reason not to. It will keep Mother-Mew out of my tail for a while at least," Mewtwo conceded.

"We really are a strange pair. Neither of us would be alive if it weren't for _him_ , yet neither of us consider him our father. You consider Lady Mew as your mother while I consider Father-Arceus as my father," I say.

"Yes, it may seem strange to others, but for us it is simply who we are. Nothing more, nothing less," Mewtwo commented before teleporting out with my letter and the money. I walked back along the beach and found myself at the door of my group's cabin, watching as Serena fumbled around for her clothes in her half-awake state.

Shaking my head as I did so, I pulled out some clothes from one of the sets of drawers in the room and handed them to Serena.

"I can't have you falling over before the day begins now can I?" I tell her softly and she just murmurs something in reply that I couldn't catch before she stumbled into the bathroom block to shower and dress. Gary was the next to wake, followed by Clemont who raced to get to the showers as he wanted to go see Bonnie as soon as possible.

By the time Serena came back out, completely dressed and wide awake, I had collected everything that I would need for the day.

"I see that you're ready," Serena commented.

"Yes, it seems rather silly to shower in the morning if you are only going to get grubby again later. That's why I have my showers at night," I explained.

"Very funny. I normally have my showers at night as well, but I fell asleep before I could last night," Serena retorted.

While we were waiting for the other two to come out of the showers, we just sat in silence on the porch outside the cabin watching as the sun rose higher into the sky.

 _~Meanwhile in Jhoto, 3_ _rd_ _person P.O.V.~_

"What the heck?" a red haired teen exclaimed when he saw the letter beside his makeshift bed.

 _To Silver,_

 _I know that this may sound sudden, and I only recently learned that we are related, but I am your older half-brother, we share the same vile father. One of my acquaintances who is travelling Jhoto at the moment told me about how you were having to live the life of a criminal to support you and your mother. I know this isn't much, but it should last you to buy food for two people for a month._

 _I wish I could do more to help you, but at the moment, my anonymity is my best defence and I cannot spare much money myself. I hope that this helps though, and maybe one day we can meet in person as brothers when it is safe to do so, I know my own mother would most likely treat you as if you were her own, she tends to mother hen people a lot. I hope that when our father is finally put behind bars, I can share my true name with you, but until then, please remember that you are not alone in your struggles, you have your mother and your half-brother here to help you, even if I can only help from a distance._

 _From,_

 _Your older half-brother 'Ignatius'_

 _Oh, and feel free to write a letter back, my acquaintance will keep an eye out for any and send them to me for you._

"I have a brother. How could I have a brother. My father must be much worse than I thought. Ignatius… Huh, that's a weird psyedoym name to use," Silver commented as he leafed through the wad of money that 'Ignatius' had given him.

"He was right, this is enough to feed my mother and me for a month. I hope this isn't just my father's attempt at winning me over though," Silver pondered before pulling out his note pad and started writing a note.

 _To 'Ignatius',_

 _Thanks for the wad of money, it definitely helps. I don't know whether or not to trust you really, because for all I know, you are just my father trying to win me over._

 _I have some questions for you though._

 _Why do you have to keep an anonymity? I understand not wanting our father to find you, but who else could be trying to find you?_

 _How did your 'acquaintance' even know that you would have a half-brother?_

 _What was your reaction to learning of your real parentage?_

 _Do you consider_ him _as your father, or do you consider another person as your father figure?_

 _How long have you known about your real parentage?_

 _Do you have a girlfriend?_

 _What is your favourite colour?_

 _I know those last two were random, but I'm a teenager, I do random stuff sometimes._

 _If you could reply, that would good, but if you don't that's fine._

 _From, Silver._

"This 'acquaintance' better turn up soon, because I don't want that rat-bag of a father to find it," Silver mumbled to himself.

As he was packing up his stuff, he didn't notice a being teleport into his small camp and take his letter, leave behind a note saying 'I have taken your letter to Ignatius' and teleport out again. By the time Silver realised, the being, Mewtwo, had been and gone.

 _~Back to Ash, Ash's P.O.V. ~_

We headed straight to the medical bay once everyone was ready to go pick up Bonnie on our way to breakfast.

"Ash! Clemont! Serena! Gary!" Bonnie called out to us as we walked into the medical bay. Bonnie was jumping around waving her unbroken arm and her broken arm (in its white cast) to get our attention.

"Bonnie!" Clemont cried out as he picked up Bonnie and hugged her.

"You had me so worried," Clemont told her.

"You had us all worried, Caterpie," I told her gently.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for making you worry. I didn't mean to," Bonnie cried.

"Hush, Bonnie, there is no need to cry. What is done, is done," Serena commented.

"In that case, let's head to breakfast to eat and move on from this," Gary commented.

"Right! I'm hungry," Bonnie stated before wiggling out of Clemont's grip and running towards the dining hall.

"And there she goes. I better run after her to make sure she doesn't trip and fall and injure herself even worse," I stated before running after her, the others walking leisurely behind me.

By the time we had gotten to the dining hall, I had to use a lot of skills to keep up with Bonnie. I had had to use my psychic powers to stop Bonnie tripping down a set of stars. I had to jump over many logs in order to keep up with Bonnie who was very good at ducking under things. I had to skid across a patch of water that had started going all over the ground because a tap or something similar had broken in the Chespin cabin, and of course, I had to run along a roof top because Bonnie started running down a small gap between two cabins that I couldn't fit through. Needless to say, Bonnie had the others panting to keep up.

"Bonnie, do you have to run so fast?" Clemont asked once he eventually caught up.

"Sorry, I didn't think I was going that fast," Bonnie stated.

"That will be the ninja capabilities catching up. Most of the time, ninja, aura guardian, and psychic powers are hereditary, like mine. Sometimes they skip a few generations, before they turn up again, so it is hard to predict who they will turn up in. Those who do get inherit their powers usually have stronger powers, which normally shows itself as learning quicker, easier control, or simply more power reserves. For me, mine was much higher power reserves, I had to spend a long time learning everything and controlling my powers for a long time. Normally, it is the same talent that shows up with families," I explained.

"So, one of our parents may have been a ninja?" Clemont asked.

"It is more than likely. Lumiose City has two ninja clans in fact. The Ketsueki Clan and the Hikari Clan. They have been enemy and rival clans for years, and it only got worse when one of the Ketsueki Clan killed the wife of the chief of the Hikari Clan almost eight years ago now. If one of your parents is a ninja belonging to one of those two clans, it doesn't surprise me that they didn't tell you. They would probably prefer you blissfully unaware than having to constantly fear that the opposing clan is about to attack," I explain as carefully as I can.

No one says anything more about that, preferring to leave it as silence.

By the time we had all eaten breakfast, my mind was wandering back in the direction of Silver.

"Are you okay, Ash? You seem rather distant today," Shauna commented.

"One of my informants got in contact with me this morning. There is this criminal, granted a rather minor criminal, though he is good at what he does, who could be blackmailed into helping team Rocket. I doubt that he would join them unless blackmailed into doing so, and to make matters worse, Team Rocket has some serious blackmail material on him. My informant is keeping an eye on him for now, getting him to do some less illegal jobs for higher prices to try and keep him away from Team Rocket. This doesn't easy my worries though. He's very good at what he does, and I know that Team Rocket will be gunning to get him on their side," I explain quietly.

"That doesn't sound good," Tierno pointed out.

"The situation could go either way, but for now I just have to hope that my informant can keep out of the hands of Team Rocket, for his own safety," I stated.

"That sounded like you're worried for this guy's safety. Why?" Trevor asked.

"He's only a criminal because he has no other way to support himself and his mother. If it wasn't for the fact that he needs the money, then he wouldn't be a criminal. Then there's the other problem. He also has a personal vendetta against Team Rocket, so I'm not sure how he would act if they tried to get him to join them. He could defy them, go against them and get hurt in the process, or he could join them, try to bring them down from the inside and possibly get himself killed. He is only sixteen and there really isn't any telling what he'll do," I explained.

"The poor guy. If he's only sixteen, then it has to be really hard for him to have turned to a life of crime," Shauna sympathised.

The rest of breakfast passed by without incident, well, apart from when Bonnie almost tripper over a seat on her way to get more food.

"Alright campers, today's activity is Pokémon snaps. The aim is to take pictures of certain Pokémon from a list that you will all be given. None of the Pokémon are wild and have a medallion around their necks to mark them as one of the objectives. The team to find and take pictures of the most amount of Pokémon on the list wins the ten points. The team with the second most amount of Pokémon on the list gets seven points. And the team with the third highest amount gets three points. You have until five o'clock this afternoon to complete this activity. A reminder that you are not to go near or provoke wild Pokémon around the campgrounds as we do not want any more injuries during this camp. Good luck, campers, we'll see you back here at five o'clock or whenever you find all the objectives, whichever one comes first," Professor Sycamore announced.

It didn't take us long to get the camera and the list of Pokémon we had to find. We decided to go as far away from the camp first and make our way back in towards camp so we started running, carefully to make sure that Bonnie didn't trip over.

The list wasn't that long to be honest.

 _Garchomp_

 _Flabébé_

 _Dunsparse_

 _Combee_

 _Goldeen_

 _Staryu_

 _Wailord_

 _Fletchling_

 _Dratini_

 _Psyduck_

"Alright, so we should get the photo of Garchomp at the end because Garchomp will be with professor Sycamore. We're most likely to find Dunsparse, Combee, and Flabébé this far out," Clemont reasoned. Agreeing with that logic, we began our search.

By the end, we managed to get all but two of the Pokémon on the list. The only ones we didn't get were Dratini and Psyduck.

Looking around, I could tell by the amount of leaves and twigs in the hair of the other teams, that they didn't have as much luck further out as we did.

"Well done campers. Team Squirtle won with all Pokémon on the list and even making it back with two hours to spare. Team Elektrike came second missing only Garchomp from their list arriving back here right on time. And in third place was Team Froakie missing only Dratini and Psyduck from their list and also arriving back right on time. Well done to everyone. So, update on points. In first place we have Team Froakie with twenty-three points followed by Team Squirtle on twenty points. Then there is Team Dratini, Team Elektrike and Team Vivollion with seven points each. Then there is Team Eevee and Team Fennekin on three points each. Everyone else sits on no points," Professor Sycamore announced.

"With that, tonight we'll be watching a movie during dinner so please head back to your cabins and get ready for a movie night. Thank you," one of the assistants, Sophie, announced causing a lot of excited chatter as we all headed back to the cabins.

"What do you think the movie will be?" Serena asked me.

"I think that it will most likely be an adventure movie, after all, the age range is between eight and over fifty so it has to be suitable for all ages. Adventure would work the best in this case," I reason.

"Very good analysis, Ash, I agree. Based on the facts that you brought up, adventure would be the most likely option," Clemont agreed.

Bonnie changed into her Tyrantrum onesie, Clemont was in his regular blue and white pyjamas, Gary was in a sweatshirt and a pair of boxers, Serena had a pink hoodie and purple shorts on, and I had a black singlet with dark blue sweatpants on. Pikachu had insisted that he wear a pompom beanie in black and dark blue, and forced one on my head as well.

Bonnie and Serena had a good laugh as Pikachu chased me around the cabin with the pompom beanie in his paws to try to get it on my head. Gary was just shaking his head throughout the chase while recording it on his phone. Clemont was struggling to get his zipper zipped up during the whole thing and kept falling over only to have Pikachu jump on him to try and catch up to me. The whole situation was funny.

By the time we got back to the dining hall, we had ended up having a pillow fight. Serena and Bonnie were the most enthusiastic with me joining Serena's side and Clemont joining Bonnie's side with Gary posing as a referee of sorts.

"Alright, Team Froakie, why are you covered in feathers?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"We may have had a pillow fight and may have split a lot of the pillows in the process," Clemont offered.

"Can we trust you to clean it up?" Professor Sycamore asked us.

"Of course you can, Professor," Serena stated with a smile while picking a feather off my singlet.

"Alright, get in you guys," Sophie told us before Professor Sycamore could say anything.

The movie started not too long after we sat down, it did end up being an adventure movie. For most of the movie Clemont had Shauna snuggled under one arm and Bonnie snuggled under the other. Gary fell asleep half way through. Serena just lay down next to me and had her head in my lap while I ran my fingers through her hair.

By the time the movie was over, a lot of people had fallen asleep, and no one could be bothered to wake them up, so once again we slept outside of our cabins.

 _~Time skip: Next Morning~_

Waking up in the dining hall wasn't as strange as waking up after the first night was.

I woke up before any of the others so I kissed Serena on the forehead, whispering in her ear that I was going for a walk just as she stirred.

"Kay," she mumbled before falling back asleep. I jogged along the beach for a few minutes before a registered that Mewtwo was watching me.

"Hello Mewtwo," I greeted.

"Right back at you Chosen One," he replied.

"Please don't," I asked him.

"Alright. Anyway, your half-brother has a reply for you," Mewtwo told me while handing a piece of paper to me.

 _To 'Ignatius',_

 _Thanks for the wad of money, it definitely helps. I don't know whether or not to trust you really, because for all I know, you are just my father trying to win me over._

 _I have some questions for you though._

 _Why do you have to keep an anonymity? I understand not wanting our father to find you, but who else could be trying to find you?_

 _How did your 'acquaintance' even know that you would have a half-brother?_

 _What was your reaction to learning of your real parentage?_

 _Do you consider_ him _as your father, or do you consider another person as your father figure?_

 _How long have you known about your real parentage?_

 _Do you have a girlfriend?_

 _What is your favourite colour?_

 _I know those last two were random, but I'm a teenager, I do random stuff sometimes._

 _If you could reply, that would good, but if you don't that's fine._

 _From, Silver._

"Thank you, Mewtwo, for being such a great help in this sense," I told the clone Pokémon even as I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen to write a reply to my brother.

 _To Silver._

 _In answer to your questions, I have to keep my anonymity due to my line of work, I have a lot of enemies that I would prefer to keep in the dark about my return to my business. My 'acquaintance' is a work colleague of sorts, mainly in tracking and identifying possible threats to my missions, I just asked him to pay special attention to those dealing with our father. My reaction to finding out my parentage was disgust followed by a deep rage for him. I do not consider him my father figure, my main teacher these past ten years takes that spot. I was thirteen when I learnt of my parentage. Yes, I have a girlfriend who is absolutely stunning by the way. My favourite colour is blue, more of a bright mix of white and blue really, but blue is good in general. I don't mind if your questions are random, it just means I have to stay more alert._

 _If you ever need help, all you have to do is write a note for me and I will do everything I can to help you. We're brothers after all, and brothers look out for each other._

 _From, 'Ignatius'_

"Can you give this to him, please?" I ask Mewtwo.

"Of course. Also, meetings in the Father-Plane are becoming more frequent. There is worry that Yveltal won't be able to control himself enough to make reasonable decisions and the rest of us will have to intervene to make sure he doesn't cause more destruction than is needed. You might want to keep an eye out and be ready to stop any destruction," Mewtwo warned me. I could tell that it was more than just the upcoming awakening of Yveltal that was worrying Mewtwo

"Things are unstable, aren't they?" I asked.

"Yes. The Time-Plane and the Space-Plane are getting out of alignment and no one is exactly sure if it will right itself or if it will just get worse. The Reverse-Plan is pushing out more than ever before, just as the Mother-Plane is attempting to collapse in on itself more and more as time passes. There is talk that the two planes may merge in the coming years to stabilise themselves, but no one is quite sure of that yet," Mewtwo admitted sadly.

"If the Reverse-Plane and the Mother-Plane merge, what would happen?" I ask feeling very small all of a sudden.

"At best, all that would change is that gravity is thrown all over the place. At worst, all life in both planes is destroyed only to reform slowly over millions of millions of years, possibly not even recognisable to us," Mewtwo told me.

"Are you scared of the later possibility?" I ask while staring out at the ocean.

"More than you can imagine," was all Mewtwo told me before he teleported away. I then started the journey back to the dinning hall. The news was unsettling, more than unsettling really. No, it was more along the lines of terrifying. Yes, I was supposed to be the 'Chosen One', one of the 'Agents of Arceus', but how could I stop something that could destroy life as I knew it? I sometimes struggled with healing the most minor wounds with aura even after ten years of training, how could I be the one to save everyone on this planet?

Serena noticed how agitated I was the moment I sat down.

"What's wrong Ash?" she asked. I looked at her and the smiling faces around me before forcing myself to smile softly.

"Absolutely nothing," I told her. I knew that she could tell that I was lying, but she didn't make any further comments, just curled up into my side.

" _I wish you would tell me what's wrong, even if it is just in our heads,"_ she told me telepathically.

" _Even if I did, it would only ruin camp for everyone. No, I'd rather keep this to myself instead of turn this whole camp experience into a disaster. For all I know, there is nothing to worry about at all, though it doesn't make the idea any less frightening,"_ I reply telepathically.

" _We are stronger than you think we are,"_ Serena mentally chides me.

" _I know. I am fully aware that you can take on what I am keeping from you, but I want to protect you from the stress and pain that comes with this knowledge,"_ I say to her. She doesn't ask again, and I'm grateful for that.

"Serena, did you ever do dance lessons?" Bonnie asked randomly.

"Yes, I did Ballet and Tap dancing lessons for quite a long time really. I remember my mum wanted me to do ballroom dancing as well, but I turned it down as I found tap dancing more fun. Why?" Serena replied.

"I thought, maybe you could teach me how to dance. Ash can't teach me how to fight at the moment due to my arm, but I want to keep up my fitness levels. Dance would give me more flexibility, and I think that is part of my problem when it comes to learning how to fight," Bonnie explained.

"I'd be happy to, Bonnie. I'm probably not the best teacher though," Serena said modestly.

"Hey, why don't I help teach Bonnie to dance while we're here?" Tierno offered.

"That's a great idea! I'll help too. As a performer I had to learn how to dance and took quite a few lessons from Tierno and actual dance classes to make my performances better, so I can help, right?" Shauna offered.

"Sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe the Pokémon can join in as well. They may very well enjoy it," I suggested.

"If _we're_ doing it, then you have to join us," Serena told me with a large smile on her face as my expression turned to horror. Meloetta had tried many, many, many times to teach me how to dance, as had many other legendries, for the sake of it helping me become more flexible for my hand to hand combat training. Every single time had ended up in disaster. I knew that I was never meant to be a dancer. A fighter, yes, but never a dancer.

"Serena, that is a very dangerous suggestion. I am not meant to be a dancer. Believe me, my teachers spent eight years trying to teach me how to dance, it failed every time," I warned my girlfriend.

"Doesn't matter. It is meant to be a bit of fun for all of us, really. Bonnie and Tierno are probably the only ones who will take it seriously," Serena comforted me. Gary, Trevor and Clemont had a quiet laugh at my predicament and I glared at them.

" _You're forcing me to do this because I wouldn't tell you everything, aren't you?"_ I asked Serena telepathically.

" _Correct, but in any case, I'm going to make everyone in our group participate; especially Clemont and Trevor for their audacity to laugh at you,"_ Serena replied in my head.

"Well, if Ash has to join in, then Trevor, Gary and big brother should join in as well!" Bonnie chimed. The three of them exchanged glances with each other and I had a moment of relief knowing that at least I wouldn't be the only one to suffer from these 'dance lessons'.

"I agree. It would do them good to get some proper exercise anyway," Serena agreed. The horror on the faces of the three of them only grew.

"That's a great idea!" Shauna exclaimed, and I knew at that moment, Clemont was in the exact same predicament as I was. He could get away from his sister, but getting away from a girlfriend, or a girl you liked as more than a friend, that was a whole other story.

"If I have to suffer this, then so do the rest of you," I warned them just as they were about to start protesting.

Before the three of them could say anything however, Professor Sycamore stood up to begin the daily activity announcement

"Good morning campers. Today is a day of rest for you all as there have been quite a lot of activities going on over the past week. You can spend today however you like, and feel free to use the facilities around camp. Please remember however to be careful if you are heading into the forest, I would like to avoid another search and rescue mission," the charismatic professor announced.

At that moment, I knew that I was trapped. Not even Mewtwo or Father-Arceus could save me now. Even when Meloetta and the other more 'spirited' legendries that wished to teach me to dance had attempted to do so, Mewtwo or Father-Arceus could rescue me under the guise of training or lessons. I had no such help this time round.

"Palkia, Dialga, Giratina and Father-Arceus, give me strength, I beg you," I pleaded under my breath.

 _I am sorry, my child, but we can't help you with this problem. All we can do is act as moral support,_ Father-Arceus told me with guilt lacing his words. It took a lot of effort not to cry as Serena dragged me over to the gymnasium for the 'dance lessons' just as Shauna dragged Clemont, Bonnie dragged Gary, and Tierno dragged Trevor. Today was not going to be fun, I could tell already.

 **A/N: Another chapter done. I'm sorry that this took so long, but my computer has been playing up so I had to use my mum's computer to do a lot of the writing and editing. Another problem was school and then cyclone Debby (which has now done damage in both Australia and New Zealand) and I am very thankful that my family does not have the damage that other people in Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand (not sure of the exact area) have to now deal with from the cyclone (it was a category four cyclone!)**

 **Anyway, I couldn't help but have a bit of panic for Ash at the end, he can't dance in the canon either, so it just goes to show that he isn't perfect. On top of this, Ash gets in contact with his half-brother, Silver. Right now, Ash can't do much to help him, and he really doesn't want his birth father to learn of their relationship, but he still wants to do whatever he can for Silver's sake.**

 **The ninja clan names are Japanese and the translations are: Ketsueki – Blood; Hikari – light. This will sort of come into play later, but I will leave that up to your imaginations for now.**

 **These are the current accepted OCs (as usual the ones with the asterisk are mine) we've hit the thirty OC mark now which is awesome: Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small, Riley Houston, Pietro Nimmo*, Leoniz Arlean, Caspar Hawke*, Itachi Orihara, Ribbon Shard, Alex Mallinger, Zeke Arachnera.**

 **The poll for Clemont's remaining two undecided (as of yet) Pokémon is as follows**

 **\- Zebstrika: 0**

 **\- Galvantula: 1**

 **\- Eelektross: 0**

 **\- Electivire: 3**

 **\- Togedemaru: 0**

 **Please put it in a review who you are voting for. I will only be continuing this poll for another four of five chapters so put in your vote! The two Pokémon with the most points will become part of Clemont's team at some point during the Kalos arc. If there is a tie for second most popular, I will reopen the poll with just those two Pokémon to decide a winner.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 8**

 **3** **rd** **person P.O.V. (in the Hall of Origins)**

"Meloetta! Stop making fun of Ash!" Arceus roared at the normal psychic legendary from Unova.

"But he can't even do a plié!" Meloetta protested. For Arceus, this was probably going to be one of those instances where he was going to lose control of his temper and scare some of the younger legendries.

"I don't care! You know that Ash cannot dance, so stop making fun of him! If you don't stop right now, then I will close the observation portals for the rest of the week!" Arceus roared.

Meloetta and the younger legendries did indeed burst into tears at this. Mew was having a fit, and Mewtwo trying to fix the things his mother broke as quickly as possible. Zekrom and Reshiram simply turned away from the chaos and returned to their chess game (they just kept playing chess together over the centuries for no reason). Raikou went over to her babies and comforted them as much as she could, her brother Entei and sister Suicune not far behind her. Lugia woke up briefly amidst all the racket before going back to sleep, curled around her baby. Ho-Oh, Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos decided to just fly off to have another race around the Hall of Origin. The Regi trio and Regigigas just beeped away in a corner as usual, not making too much fuss about any of it. Kyogre decided to splash Groudon who sent an earthquake in Kyogre's direction, which caused both Rayquaza and Deoxys to get mad and scold the two of them. Kyurem decided to go and referee Zekrom and Reshiram's chess game, because Zekrom often tried to cheat. Xerneas and the elder Diance went around comforting the more upset of the younger legendries such as Manaphy, Phione, Celebi, and baby Reshiram. The Lake Guardian trio just brooded in a corner over the latest season of Pokémon Ranger. The Swords of Justice began to herd Keldeo from the room, sensing the rising danger coming from Arceus. Magearna made a bouquet of flowers which caused Volcanion to sneeze, which made the younger legendries start crying again. The Eon duo began a game of tag. Solgaleo and Lunala were both too old and frail to leave their rooms, so Necrozma was caring for them (thankfully that meant they weren't in the midst of the chaos). Darkrai and Cresselia joined the Eon duo's game of tag. Hoopa started summoning random stuff with his rings. Giratina rolled his eyes, Dialga sighed as she knew that things were only going to get worse, and Palkia shook his head in denial that legendries would ever act in such a juvenile way.

The noise in the room became so unbearable that eventually Arceus just snapped.

"QUIET ALL OF YOU!" he roared as loud as he could. Every single Pokémon in the entire Hall of Origins stopped and looked at Arceus. "Ash deserves some privacy. If you are going to be nosy and use the observation pools to spy on him, then at least have the decency to not make fun of him. I am very tempted to close the pools for the rest of the week. The pools are here to observe the Mother-Plane to make sure that we can stop disasters before they happen. You are to be quiet or to take your noise somewhere else in this Plane of existence or I will kick you all out of this room so that I can keep watch for disasters. IS THIS UNDERSTOOD?!" Arceus explained to them as calmly as he could.

There were a lot of cries of 'Yes Lord Arceus' around the room as the legendries with children herded their young out of the room. Zekrom and Kyurem packed up the chess board and followed the two Reshirams (the mother and her baby) back to their room so that Kyurem could take of baby Reshiram while the other Reshiram and Zekrom played chess. Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina stayed exactly where they were at their observation pools as they continued to do their job. Mew flew off somewhere with Meloetta, while Mewtwo followed behind to make sure the two dance-crazed legendries didn't get themselves into too much trouble. Hoopa ringed everything back to where it belonged. Diance and Xerneas herded all the other young legendries out of the room. The two Lugia continued sleeping. The Lake guardian trio continued brooding as they floated out the door to take their discussion elsewhere. The Regi trio and Regigigas came over to the pools to begin watching for signs of trouble. The Swords of Justice continued to herd Keldeo away from Arceus (still feeling that sense of danger). Volcanion picked up Magearna and took her back to their rooms (feeling a need to keep her safe as well as a need to sleep). Kyogre and Groudon each wet back to their respective rooms (as Rayquaza and Deoxys had scolded them more than enough by this point), while Rayquaza and Deoxys went off to play twister. The Eon duo, Darkrai, and Cresselia took their game of tag elsewhere. Necrozma told Lunala and Solgaleo what had just caused Arceus to blow up.

It didn't take long for the room to become empty, but it took for the rest of the day for Arceus to calm down enough that he didn't yell at anyone who made a sound in the same room as him.

 _~Meanwhile, back in the Mother-Plane, Kalos (Professor Sycamore's Summer Camp), Ash's P.O.V.~_

As I collapsed onto the ground, I let out a groan in protest to the dance terms that were being shouted around me. Clemont had passed out earlier, followed by Trevor and Gary. I had lasted the longest, but only due to my stamina. It was only midday, and there was still another six _hours_ of this torture. I could already hear Meloetta laughing in my ear.

"Get up, Ash," Bonnie insisted as she pulled on my arm.

"No, I can't do anymore dancing. I've reached my limit," I protested. Bonnie continued to pull on my arm until she fell over, and I had to use my powers to stop her from landing on her broken arm.

"You promised you would be careful," I scolded her with Clemont coming up behind me to scold her as well.

"Sorry. I just wanted to get you up," Bonnie explained.

"Even then you should have been more careful," Clemont scolded her.

"Sorry," Bonnie said before skipping off to do some more dance. It was mainly ballet, hip hop, and jazz, which also happened to be the types of dance best suited to martial arts training.

I watched carefully and every now and then, I would speak up and tell Bonnie how the move she was working on could correspond to a martial arts move. Every time I did this, she would jump around and beg me to show her. Serena would do the move while I did the martial arts version of it.

"I still can't understand how you can do all that martial arts stuff, but be unable to do the dancing," Shauna commented.

"My teachers hypothesise that my body is almost hardwired for martial arts and more combat styled activity, and dance would destabilise and throw out the 'calibration' of my body. Continuing on with that, when I do try to dance, my martial arts gets out of whack for a few days. The examples that I gave you had wobbles and errors in it that I shouldn't have," I explained.

"I didn't see any errors!" Trevor exclaimed.

"That's because you most likely have little to no experience with martial arts, whereas I have ten years of full on training and practice of martial arts. What you perceive to be without errors is something that has errors in my eyes," I outlined to Trevor.

"I guess that makes sense. Like how with my photos, most people can't see the rarity of what I take pictures of in most cases, whereas I can!" Trevor realised.

"That's right," I say while nodding.

"Let's get back to dancing!" Tierno exclaimed.

"I think that Ash better not. He needs to keep up his martial arts skills, so maybe he should sit this one out," Bonnie exclaimed.

"Bonnie's right, we can't have Ash having his martial arts skills inhibited due to dance. However, this doesn't mean that Clemont, Gary, and Trevor are excused," Shauna agrees while nodding. The three of them look at me with a pleading look on their faces, I sighed knowing that I couldn't leave them to the form of torture known as dancing.

"Actually, Gary needs to learn some martial arts, so I'll teach him that, Clemont and Trevor can join us if they want to," I say.

"I'll join in!" Clemont and Trevor stated together without hesitating.

"Alright, let's head over to the exercise equipment then," I instruct them. I looked back at the others for a moment and saw Bonnie frowning at me, most likely because she couldn't do martial arts for a few more months due to her arm.

"So, what do we do first?" Gary asks.

"Let me get a few punching bags up," I say before levitating them with my psychic powers until they attach to their hooks. "Right, so first up, you need to learn how to punch. A very important thing when punching is that you never curl your fists with your thumb _inside_ your fist. If you do and you throw a punch, you _will_ break you thumb," I explain shooting a very careful look at Trevor and Clemont.

"Right, no thumb inside the fist, understood," Gary repeated and the other two nodded.

"Another thing, you need to have good balance and distribution of weight through your feet. Your centre of mass has to stay strictly above your feet, and in order to deliver a powerful blow with a punch you need to put you weight behind it, you have to learn how to move your feet in order to correct your balance," I tell them.

"I never knew that punches could be so complicated," Trevor exclaims.

"Agreed. You never put this much detail into how punches worked with Bonnie," Clemont adds.

"That is because all three of you are scientists or researchers in your own rights. By explaining the reasoning behind how punches work, you would be able to understand clearer. Bonnie is _not_ interested in the science behind how these things work, nor would she be able to understand right now. I explained how it worked to the best of my abilities that she would understand," I explained.

"Makes sense," Gary says as he walks over to one of the punching bags and attempts to punch it, only to fall over once his fist hit the punching bag. "Okay, what did I just do wrong?" he asked.

"Your centre of gravity went outside your base of support, otherwise known as your feet. Watch how I throw the punch," I say before going over to another punching bag. I take a step back before moving my feet quickly as I moved my right hand, already in a fist, towards the punching bag at high speeds. When my fist collided with the punching bag it flew off its hook and I moved my feet again to keep my centre of gravity above my feet.

"I didn't move my feet, so I toppled over from the movement," Gary stated in realisation.

"Correct. So, I have to teach you how to move lightly on your feet, but also how to keep your feet firmly connected and balanced on the ground while moving lightly on your feet," I say.

"That doesn't make any sense though!" Clemont exclaims.

"I know it doesn't. when I was first learning, I couldn't understand it either. Now though, it comes easily and naturally," I say with a laugh. "Alright, the first exercise that I can give you to help you move your feet lightly is skipping." I pick up a skipping rope and start skipping. I smiled at the memories that came with me having a very similar lesson years ago.

 _~Start Flashback~_

" _I don't understand Sir Aaron, how am I supposed to stay light on my feet but manage to stay connected to the earth?" I asked my aura guardian mentor._

" _Back when I was alive, my mentor made me run across rice paper sheets and if I broke a single sheet or my feet made a single sound, I would have to start again. That is how I learnt how to stay light on my feet. When I learnt how to stay connected to the earth, my mentor made me do long distance running over rough ground. However, Lady Mew has introduced me to a fabulous tool that will help achieve the same results for both. Go find yourself a skipping rope," my mentor instructed._

 _I did as instructed, though my ten-year-old mind was protesting, skipping was a girly thing to do! I showed Sir Aaron the skipping rope and he nodded. "Start skipping. I'll tell you when you can stop for today," he told me. I grumbled under my breathe but didn't protest otherwise._

 _~time skip – 9 years later – still in flashback~_

" _Skipping exercises!" Sir Aaron exclaimed as he floated into the training room._

" _Yes Sir Aaron," I say without protest before grabbing my skipping rope and began the exercise. Twenty revolutions straight on medium speed, twenty revolutions of speed steps on high speed, twenty revolutions of criss-crosses at medium speed, twenty revolutions of quintuple unders at medium speed, twenty revolutions of Front-back crosses at high speed, twenty revolutions of double unders at high speed, and twenty revolutions of donkey kicks at medium speed before repeating the process all over again. I continued in this manner for what seemed like hours._

" _Alright, that is enough," Sir Aaron finally told me. I stopped abruptly and ducked when the rope went over the top of me and jumped over it as it slowed to a stop in behind of me. I dropped the rope and knelt on the ground waiting for further instructions._

" _You have done well. Move onto your punches," Sir Aaron told me. I jumped up and began more practice. When I had started this, I would have collapsed from exhaustion from this much exercise, now though I had more than enough stamina to keep going for a very long time._

 _~End Flashback~_

"Simple skipping will probably be the best warm up for now. However, the type of skipping that is the best suited to learning how to keep your feet light and still connect to the earth is the speed step skipping. However, with enough practice, you can get up to _this_ level," I say while demonstrating before going into my old skipping exercise.

I had to admit, I missed doing this. Skipping was a different way of exercising, and it also had an almost therapeutic feeling to it once I got into the rhythm. It also used a lot of different muscles, and had been very useful throughout my ten years of training in the Hall of Origin.

"How the hell does he do that?" I heard someone say. I slowed down before stopping completely.

"Who said that?" I asked.

"That would be me," Tierno says.

"Well, in answer to your question, for ten years, skipping was part of my training. I had to do it every day unless my teachers decided that there were other more important things I needed to be doing. Ten years is a long time to do something every single day, and it ends up becoming very easy to just lose yourself in the actions," I say with a slight chuckle.

"Maybe we should all do some skipping? It would be fun!" Serena suggested.

"Yes, it would be, but I can't hold the rope to do any skipping!" Bonnie reminded people.

"Well, we can tie one end to a pole, and I can hold the other end and turn the rope for you," Clemont offered.

"Ah, no Clemont. You need more exercise, I will use my psychic powers to turn the rope for Bonnie," I stated. Clemont groaned at this.

"Yeah, big brother, you aren't getting out of exercising!" Bonnie said happily. Shauna laughed at the two of them and their antics while Serena and Tierno went around finding skipping ropes. When we all had a skipping rope, we started doing skipping together. Bonnie was very good at skipping, as was Serena and Shauna. Tierno got the hang of it easily, and Gary was almost as fast to pick it up. Trevor kept tripping over and Clemont kept hitting himself in the glasses with the rope accidentally despite how many times I had helped them correct their balance or helped them land properly.

Eventually, Shauna grabbed Clemont and forced him to do skipping with her, and thankfully that helped his problems a lot, even though he froze up sometimes when Shauna would get slightly closer than normal in mid jump. The two of them doing that gave me an idea to help Trevor.

"Hey, Tierno! Why don't you help Trevor with his skipping? If you do it at the same time and you help him, Trevor could probably gain his balance better," I suggest. Trevor went red at that and started stuttering at that much the same way that Clemont would around Shauna, and I cocked an eyebrow with interest at that. Tierno's reaction was different in a good way and he beamed at me before saying that he would be happy to and grabbed Trevor's wrist.

I smirked at the two of them and Serena walked over to my side.

"Those two would make a cute couple," Serena says as she picks up her water bottle.

"Cute would be the wrong word to use. They complement each other very well. Trevor also seems to like Tierno if his blush from earlier and his current thoughts are anything to go on," I say.

"Ash! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to pry into a person's personal space?" Serena asked me in a mock-horrified tone.

"Actually, it wasn't prying. Trevor's thoughts about Tierno were at the very fore-front of his mind as he was trying _not_ to think about it, and failing spectacularly, and at this point in my training, fore-front thoughts are easy to hear at this distance. Don't worry, most of the time it is just whispers, and due to how you are learning how to control your own psychic powers, your thoughts are much more protected. Trevor though, he has no training in hiding his thoughts, and he was practically screaming them in my ear. If you focus on hearing them, you would be able to hear them as well," I explain to Serena.

"So, it's more along the lines of you can't help what you are hearing?" Serena asks.

"Yes. If I wanted to, I could close myself off to everyone's thoughts, but that is impossible while using my psychic powers for other things, and as I am turning the skipping rope for Bonnie, I am prone to hearing the fore-front thoughts of those around us," I explain further.

"Makes sense. Will that happen to me too?" Serena asks.

"Maybe, time will tell. It depends on which branch your psychic powers lean towards. Mine have always been very heavily connected with mind reading or telepathic branch, hence the reason why I find it ridiculously easy to hear the thoughts of other people and communicate using thoughts. There are two other main branches. There is the telekinesis branch which is the most common, and is generally the easiest branch to master so most psychics can use it with a leaning towards telepathy or the other branch. The other branch is prophetic sight, or being able to see the future. Psychics who travel down the prophetic sight branch usually have a family history with it. Olympia has the prophetic sight ability, and it is known that she had ancestors with the same capabilities," I explain to Serena.

"I had no idea it was that complicated," she says.

"Most don't. Generally, these are secrets that psychics keep to themselves, so non-psychics believe that all psychics have the same set of powers, when they really don't," I tell my girlfriend.

"Do aura guardians and ninjas have such complicated branches of powers and stuff like that as well?" Serena asks.

"Yes. Different ninja clans have different specialty techniques, and aura guardians have four main power branches, defensive aura, offensive aura, aura sight, and aura healing. To be honest, aura healing is the hardest aura guardian branch for me to grasp. I can generally heal cuts and scrapes, but I struggle with larger injuries unless I am driven by adrenaline which doesn't happen with all the exercises that I use to stay calm," I say with a sigh.

"Let me guess, as a psychic, I'm not supposed to know about such things?" Serena guessed.

"Very much so. You probably get a pass since you are traveling with aura guardians and ninjas who are learning, so the topic is going to come up again, but please don't mention it to anyone else," I ask.

"Not a problem," Serena says before giving me a full-on kiss which messes up my concentration and my psychic powers stop turning Bonnie's skipping rope in response.

"Come on you two! Stop with the making out at get back to skipping!" Gary protested.

"Yeah! I can't do any skipping unless you turn the rope for me Ash!" Bonnie added on. Serena and I parted reluctantly and I glared at Gary before beginning to turn Bonnie's rope with my psychic powers again.

The rest of the day passed in a similar way. We would pass from activity to activity depending on what we felt like. Most of the time when we changed activity someone would just blurt out the new activity and explain what it was and we would all try it. Thankfully, we didn't go back to dancing, and I was very grateful for that.

When we went to dinner, Professor Sycamore stopped us and gave us a stern look. "Did you remember to clean up your cabin?" he asked.

I remembered that we hadn't, but before the others could say anything, I spoke up.

"Of course we did, professor. We told you that we would, didn't we?" I replied. Serena nudged my mental defences, but I focused on sending out waves of psychic powers to clean up our cabin.

"Well, I have heard that you were in the gymnasium all day, so there is no possible way that you could have cleaned up you cabin," the professor accused.

"Professor, would you like us to prove that we have cleaned up our cabin? Because we would be happy to show you that we have," I asked.

"As a matter of fact, I would. Lead the way, Ash," Professor Sycamore exclaimed.

"What are you doing Ash? Do you want to get us in trouble?" Serena whispered in my ear as we walked.

"We have psychic powers, why not use them?" I whisper back.

The moment we walked into the cabin, the last sheet had just fallen flat.

"See professor? We cleaned our cabin just like you asked," I say.

"Agreed. I will figure out how you did what you just did, Ash, I swear that I will," Professor Sycamore told me.

"I don't know what you are talking about Professor. All five of us contributed to cleaning the cabin. The problem was that we kind of forgot that we had done it because we are all so tired from all the exercise we did today, and Ash is the only one who is used to such brutal exercise for such long periods of time. I know that I was knackered after so much physical activity," Gary commented.

"Alright, I believe you," the professor said before almost exiting the cabin.

"Oh, and would you mind performing your song tonight as a bit of fun for the campers? You don't have to, but it would be greatly appreciated," he asked.

"Sure! We'd love to!" Bonnie exclaimed. The professor nodded and finally left.

"Thanks for the save, Gary," I say with a sigh. Professor Sycamore may be aware of my powers, but I would rather not get in trouble as the punishment he had in mind was to clean up the whole dining room without powers.

"No problem, friends have to stick together," Gary tells me.

"Good, because if we had been found out, we would have been cleaning the dining hall by hand later on tonight if what Professor Sycamore was thinking in his head is any indication instead of putting on a performance, and I would be holding you all to helping me," I told them with a slight glare.

"We would have joined you willingly, Ash. And you know us, we would have started throwing sponges and water at each other and make even more of a mess," Serena told me as she slung her hands around my neck and I resting my hands on her hips.

"I have no doubt that you would Serena, you're practically broadcasting your thoughts on the matter for me to hear," I say lowly in her ear.

"OI! Keep it appropriate for the little ninja in the room!" Gary teased us, breaking us out of our embrace due to shock.

"Gary!" we both whined.

"Anyway, we should go get dinner!" Bonnie interrupted.

"Of course, my little Caterpie," I say before scooping Bonnie up into my arms and running across the entire campgrounds to the dining hall. Bonnie squealed quite a lot as I used a combination of skills and was in fact running fast enough to run on water.

"Do you have to call me a Caterpie?" Bonnie asked me.

"Yes, because right now you are young and vulnerable, something worth protecting, just like a Caterpie. As you get older, you will become stronger and more resistant, you evolve into a Metapod when that happens. Finally, you will evolve into a Butterfree, and you will be a formidable opponent, beautiful, stunning, and a wonderful person. However, you will only ever make it to being a Butterfree if someone nurtures you now while you are still a Caterpie," I tell the eight-year-old.

"You really believe that?" Bonnie asks while looking up at me with curious eyes that tell me that if I lie to her she will kick me between the legs, no matter if I try to stop her or not.

"Yes, I do believe that. My mother believed that about me, and I believe that she wished she could have supported me long enough for her to see me evolve. When I was little though, my mother told me that her father called her Caterpie for the same reasons that I call you Caterpie now. For the Ketchum family, to call a young child 'Caterpie' is a term of endearment. You are my student Bonnie, and I can see myself in you, so, I call you Caterpie because I care very, very, very much about you," I explain.

"I hope that one day I will evolve so that you can be proud of the Butterfree that I will become," Bonnie tells me with a wide smile.

"I'm sure you will," I reply just as the others catch up.

"Can you please not run off like that?" Gary asks.

"Depends. Are you going to learn to keep up?" I retort.

"Very funny, Ash, very funny," Gary grumbles back before heading inside, the rest of us follow soon after. Dinner is a lively affair, and there was some excitement about my skipping as Gary had filmed me doing it.

"How do you do that?" was the most common question asked by those who had watched it.

"A lot of practice almost every day for ten years," was my generic answer.

"Alright everyone. Team Froakie will be giving a performance tonight, they will just be playing their song, Hall of Fame, for you. After that, other music will be played and board games will be handed out for you to play around with," Professor Sycamore announced.

The five of us walked off at that moment to go find the instruments we could use and Serena and I carried them using our psychic powers back to dining hall. It didn't take us long to set up, and before long, Serena began playing the first few notes of the song. Clemont and Bonnie joined in next, though Bonnie was being careful and only using her unbroken arm so it was an abridged version of the song for her part. Finally, it was time for me to start the singing with Gary not too far behind me.

The feeling of performing in front of so many people, even if it wasn't a massive amount, was exhilarating. Everyone was dancing along, even Trevor who couldn't dance all that well. Gary and I interacted with the campers as much as we could, and I even did some flips and handstands when I wasn't singing to get everyone excited.

When the song ended, I was almost sad as I had enjoyed performing and sharing the fun with them. Serena stood up from her stool before she walked over to Bonnie and helped her down from the drum kit, Clemont untucked his violin from under his chin, and Gary and I moved to the front of the stage. In unison, we made a sweeping bow to our audience which caused them to applaud loudly.

After that, we had to go and put away the instruments before we could join in with everyone else. We played board games with Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna, and Serena and I made sly comments towards Trevor and Tierno about how they should get together (though they were hidden and could only be implied from our words), while Bonnie and Gary teamed up on Clemont and Shauna and teased the two of them not so subtly.

"You know, you guys should become a proper band. You work really well together, and I can just tell you guys will be awesome," Shauna suggested randomly as we were playing Cluedo.

"That sounds like fun! Please, can we Clemont?" Bonnie pleaded with her brother.

"I agree, it would be fun," I say with a smirk.

"I'll admit, performing like that was more fun than I had expected," Serena spoke up next.

"Plus, I have a lot of ideas to write down and turn into songs. How am I supposed to do that without a band to perform them with," Gary pointed out.

"Please Clemont, you have to agree, please!" Bonnie begged.

"Alright! I don't see any reason not to," Clemont gave in.

"Well, then we are going to need a band name. all bands have names!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"We can worry about band names later," Gary told Bonnie while he patted her head.

"Don't do that! I'm not a baby!" Bonnie protested as she swatted away Gary's hand.

"Of course you aren't, Caterpie, because if you were a baby, we would all be that much more protective of you," I informed her. Bonnie huffed but didn't make another comment.

After about half an hour after that, I noticed that Professor Sycamore was standing out on the balcony by himself. I focused on hearing the tone of his thoughts, and I heard sadness and depressiveness coming from his thoughts.

"I'll be back in a moment, guys. I just need to get some fresh air and quiet. The noise is starting to hurt my ears," I say before putting the message of 'something is wrong with the professor, I'm going to find out what' into the minds of my friends. They all nodded and I walked out onto the balcony.

"Something wrong Professor?" I ask carefully, focusing on blocking out the words of everyone's thoughts.

"What? Oh, it's you, Ash. No, nothing is wrong as such. I'm just thinking over some sad memories," the professor replied after his initial shock.

"Is that so? May I ask what sort of sad memories?" I ask.

"Just thinking of my brother. Abraham was quite an experimentalist, had been since we were children. Our parents were researchers like us, they were the original owners of the Sycamore Pokémon Lab after all. When they died, my brother inherited it. He let me work there with him, though he was more interested in his experiments. His wife was one of my colleagues actually, Sophie, you've met her before, and my nephew practically grew up in the labs under the supervision of me or his mother. When my nephew was two, one of Abraham's experiments went wrong. It was lucky that Sophie, Alain, that's my nephew, Cosette and I were out at the time of the blast as it destroyed the building. Alain grew up without his father after that, and I tried so hard to raise him to the best of my ability, so did Sophie, but it was hard. Alain left a year or so back to go on a journey of his own, but I can't help but wonder where he is now," Professor Sycamore explained.

"I'm sure he's fine, Professor. If he's anything like you or Sophie, he'll be fine," I tell the man.

"You're probably right, Ash. I haven't had any contact with him in a while, and this is the first time the he hasn't come to summer camp with Sophie and I, so I'm worried. Sometimes, I wonder if Abraham would approve of how I raised his son. Would he have approved of Alain going on this journey? Would he have tried to push him into a research based career?" the professor started ranting to himself.

"Professor, calm down. You can't beat yourself up over something that you will never find the answers to. Doing so only causes you to be stuck in the past. You have to move forward. I'm sure that your brother would be proud of his son, only a monster wouldn't be proud of what their child has become, that or the child is a monster. I doubt that your nephew is a monster though, and from what you have said about your brother, he wasn't a monster either," I comfort him. Professor Sycamore may be older than I am, but everyone has their moments of weakness.

"How is it that you have so much wisdom despite how young you are?" Professor Sycamore asked with a chuckle.

"My father, my birth father to be exact, he is a monster, I know this to be a fact. I was thirteen when I swore that I would make my birth father pay for what my mother has had to suffer because of him. I have carried that for seven years now. I grew up too soon, I took on the responsibilities of a full-grown man when I was still a child. It seems that the Ketchum family forces themselves to mature before their time. We gain our wisdom in the most painful way, through experience," I say while gazing out at the moving waves of water.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Professor Sycamore says quietly.

"Don't be, if I didn't want to tell you I wouldn't have," I reply.

"Wisdom, it is a strange concept. We gain wisdom through experience and through time, but once we have it, we can't stay innocent. Parents want their children to stay innocent, but also wish they would gain some wisdom, but you can't have both," Professor Sycamore mused. I nodded in agreement.

"Sometimes, I wonder where my own innocence went, but then I remember that I gave it up in order to become stronger. We all have to make choices, and sometimes they aren't easy choices to make, but we make them so that we can move forward. I've made many choices in my life already, and I intend to follow through with my choices. As my mother told me as a child 'you've made your bed, now lie in it'. What about you? Do you intend to follow through with your decisions?" I ask him.

"Yes. I will. No point mourning what I never had. No point torturing myself with what ifs," the professor replied and we both headed back inside.

"Everything alright?" Serena asked me as I sat down.

"Everything is fine, Serena, you don't have to worry about anything," I reply.

It wasn't too much longer until we headed back to our cabin and as I was about to fall asleep, I heard Father-Arceus talking to me.

 _It is rather nice to see that someone can keep his head on straight during stressful times. I'm still doing damage control here. Also, the advice you gave the Kalos Professor may have just altered this timeline. Oh well, the fabric of reality is everchanging, every choice weaves another stitch into this universe's history. Take care, my son, for while the fabric of reality is quick to adapt, reality is a concept as fragile as thin ice._ Father-Arceus told me.

Reality. The concept of reality.

"I know what we should be called!" I called out as I bolted upright. Serena, Bonnie, Clemont, and Gary looked at me strangely as I hit my head on the roof and fell onto the floor.

"And what was your idea for what we should be called?" Serena asked with a snigger.

"The Realists," I say. The four of them exchange glances and after a moment during which I focused on not listening to their thoughts, Clemont opened his mouth to say something…

 **A/N: Cliffhanger! Sorry everyone, but I really had to do that. This is important, I need to know if the band name 'The Realists' is something you like, because if it is, then Clemont will say that he likes the name, if you guys don't, then he will turn down the name. Please say in a review or a PM if you like the name or not (and if not what name you would like instead) because I cannot start writing the next chapter until I know what Clemont is going to say. For this reason, you will have until the seventh of May to give your opinion.**

 **Onto other things, I hope you all liked my explanation of why Ash calls Bonnie 'Caterpie' (it is actually a nickname I gave to one of my friends because she is so small), the other reason why Ash calls Bonnie 'Caterpie' is because I used to play Club Penguin and in the dojo, the martial arts instructor (I can't remember his name) used to call the player a grasshopper, and the Pokémon equivalent of a grasshopper in my mind is a Caterpie. No Silver related stuff this chapter, but I think that the scene at the beginning with all the chaos in the Hall of Origins makes up for that. Yes, I am going to assume that Necrozma is a legendry Pokémon, we do have confirmation that it is** _ **not**_ **and Ultra Beast so… this is my take on how that works (if someone could get me some confirmation on whether or not Necrozma is an actual legendry or something like that, it would be very much appreciated).**

 **Here is the current list of OCs (as usual, the ones with the asterisk are mine. Unfortunately there haven't been any new ones added to the list): Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small, Riley Houston, Pietro Nimmo*, Leoniz Arlean, Caspar Hawke*, Itachi Orihara, Ribbon Shard, Alex Mallinger, Zeke Arachnera.**

 **The poll for Clemont's remaining two undecided (as of yet) Pokémon is as follows:**

 **\- Zebstrika: 0**

 **\- Galvantula: 1**

 **\- Eelektross: 0**

 **\- Electivire: 6**

 **\- Togedemaru: 1**

 **Remember, if there is a tie for second when this poll closes in three or four chapters then I will have to ask you to decide between them so please put in a review who you are voting for. Keep submitting OCs and what you think of the band name 'The Realists'.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 9**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

Clemont opened his mouth to say something and I listened carefully to his words.

"Ash, perhaps you should explain where your reasoning for that came from?" he suggested carefully.

"Or better yet, we write down that name, and look at it when we are all thinking clearer, because what may make sense to you right now as you are falling asleep, may not make sense at any other point in time," Gary continued on.

"Well, my reasoning is that the five of us don't try to be something that we aren't. We are essentially, realists. We accept people for who they are and do our best to show the real us. We do our best to always tell it as it is, only censoring ourselves if there are people around who shouldn't hear what we are saying due to maturity levels. Another way that I was looking at it is that none of us really believe that the future is set in stone, that reality is just what we see. We each are changing our future, our version of reality to make it a better place," I explain slowly. I take a pause before speaking again. "Though perhaps I need to get some form of sleep and make sure in the morning that I am not just thinking nonsense."

"I like the way Ash is thinking, but I am really sleepy and he hit his head, so talking in the morning sounds like a good idea," Bonnie suggested.

"Agreed. Oh, and Ash, don't you dare go back into the rafters tonight. You hit your head so you shouldn't be left unsupervised. You will sleep in my bed, and I will sleep in my sleeping bag on the floor," Serena told me sternly.

"Yes Serena," I say while rubbing my head where it was starting to throb. Bonnie clambered back underneath her sheets (as she was on the top bunk that she shared with Serena and hadn't gotten down after I fell down), while Clemont and Gary got into their beds. Serena pulled out her sleeping bag and before she got into it, she pushed me underneath her sheets and pretty much got some of her scarves and tied my hands and ankles to the posts of the bed so I couldn't escape.

"You are going to sleep right where you are, and to make sure, I've tied you up, so don't you dare try anything funny," Serena warned me before turning off the lights and getting into her sleeping bag. I probably could have gotten myself out of the bindings, but I did not want to risk the rage that would come if I upset Serena. While the bindings were uncomfortable, I eventually managed to fall asleep.

I woke before sunrise, only to find I couldn't get out of bed. I sighed and focused my psychic power on getting myself out of the bindings.

Unlike most people, I could survive on much less sleep. I generally only slept five hours on a regular day. If I had been doing more strenuous activities than normal I may have to sleep for six hours. If I wanted to truly relax though, I could go for a full forty-eight hours without sleep. Going into a meditative trance though, I could stay in that for a full four days without food, water, or sleep without feeling any effects of it. I could probably go for a whole week if I needed to, but much longer than that and I would run the risk of permanently intertwining my mind, soul, and aura with the world around me as that is what meditative trances allow me to do, interact on a true base level with my surroundings.

While I often wished that I could sleep for longer (if I did I became lethargic), it had just become part of who I was. Some of the legendries do not sleep at all, so I am grateful that I have the need to sleep as it allows me to replenish energy faster.

I sighed softly as I watched Serena shift in her sleep. Carefully, I picked her up and placed her on her bed before writing a note and walking out of the cabin for my morning run.

When I was a fair distance away from the cabins, Mewtwo turned up next to me.

"Hello Mewtwo," I say in greeting.

"Hello, Agent of Arceus," Mewtwo teased.

"How many times must I tell you, no titles!" I protest light heartedly. Mewtwo always did this. We had darker pasts than the others in the Hall of Origin, so we understood each other that way. We had many similarities in fact. It really was a strange friendship, but it worked for us, and that was what mattered.

"You may have to keep reminding me for another few years. Besides, it isn't like there has been anything major that you have had to deal with yet, though I have heard whispers of there being an illegal organisation here in Kalos," Mewtwo told me.

"Damn. I should probably go have a scouting trip to see if I can spot any bases," I mutter under my breath.

"Where is Pikachu?" Mewtwo asked me. I shrugged.

"He goes where he likes. I saw him two days ago. If I know him, which I do, he is probably in the forest somewhere finding out information from the local Pokémon. Maybe even hunting down the Ursaring that hurt Bonnie. If any Raikou have left the Halls of Origins and is in the area, than Pikachu has probably gone to spend time with his mate, or if it isn't his mate, his hatchlings," I say.

"Makes sense, but Raikou hasn't left the Hall of Origin since a week ago. She was there with all her hatchlings when Lord Arceus had to yell at everyone about the voice levels in the room with the Observation Pools. That was a sight to be seen. I have never seen Mother Mew float so still before. In fact, she fell out of the air she got so scared when Lord Arceus yelled," Mewtwo told me.

"Then Pikachu is most likely interacting with the local Pokémon in the area, or in the kitchens stealing ketchup. I still do not know how he got so addicted to it," I reply with a nod.

"I promise that I did not introduce him to that foul substance. I cannot speak for my mother though. I strongly suspect she may have had some part in the supply of ketchup," Mewtwo says while throwing his hands up in surrender. I laugh at our antics, enjoying the light-heartedness that we had. Few could ever hope to understand us, and how we could go from discussing a dangerous topic to a silly topic.

"Before I forget, your half-brother wrote you another note," Mewtwo told me, bringing me out of my thoughts. He handed me the note.

 _Ignatius._

 _I don't know what I'm meant to do!_

 _Father found my hideout and his grunts keep following me. I can't escape him!_

 _He wants me to work alongside him! If I do, he will pay for my mother's treatments, but my moral code is screaming at me that my mother got out for a reason._

 _I'm scared too. I'm just a teenager, and I've done way too much illegal stuff already, and father is threatening to release to the police where I am and what I've done._

 _I need help._

 _Please, I need you to help me!_

 _\- Silver_

"Mewtwo, my brother needs my help. Can you teleport me close to his position when I have everything I need?" I ask with panic seeping into my voice.

"Of course," Mewtwo replied. I used my psychic powers to call my mission attire to me along with a piece of paper and a pen. I wrote a note for my friends explaining to them that an urgent mission came up before sending the note and pen back to the cabin for them to find. I pulled on my black ninja garb and let out a mental probe to find Pikachu. He was in the kitchens, scoffing down bottles of ketchup and shocking anyone who tried to stop him.

' _Pikachu! Stop scoffing down ketchup! We have a mission that we need to go on, NOW! if you don't get to my position in the next two minutes, I will leave without you and you will have to run all the way to Johto!'_ I mentally chided my electric companion. I stood waiting and Pikachu didn't take long to arrive, only a minute and a half.

"Alright, we're ready," I tell Mewtwo as Pikachu situates himself on my shoulder for the teleportation. I found myself in a forest, and it was still dark compared to the sun rising back in Kalos.

"We are in Johto. Silver is a minute of running north of here. I will stay in the general area," Mewtwo told me.

"Thank you," I say while pulling up the cloth that disguised my face. I began the run north and it wasn't long before I found Silver. He was hunched over on a log with his red hair in disarray. I could hear that he was crying, but I blocked out his thoughts so I didn't know why he was crying.

"Hello, Silver," I say carefully.

He turns around to face me and I notice that he is clutching a photo frame in his hand. The whites of his eyes were red from crying, and I could see silver streaks on his cheeks.

"Who are you?!" he screamed at me.

"It's me, Ignatius," I say softly.

"Really?" Silver asks hesitantly.

"Yes. I couldn't leave my little brother to deal with his problems alone, now could I? You asked for my help in your note, so I am here to give you help however I can," I tell him.

"Thank you. I know that you probably risked a lot to come here, but I just don't know what to do!" Silver told me while launching himself into my arms.

"Silver, you are my brother. This may be the first time we have met, but we share something that no one can take away from us. Yes, our biological father is despicable, but you can always count on me coming to help you unless I am physically incapable of coming to your aid," I explain to him softly.

"It feels nice knowing that I have someone looking out for me despite how much bad stuff I have done in the past," Silver mumbled. Pikachu chose that moment to poke out of my hood at pat Silver on the head. "What the-?" Silver cried before jumping back.

"Pikachu! How many times have I told you? You stay in the hood until I give you the all clear. I know you hate being in your Pokéball, so don't make me put you in there," I tell my friend.

"You… know this Pikachu?" Silver asks me.

"Of course. Pikachu was my starting partner when I turned ten-years-old. I know him very well," I say with a small snort.

"Oh, right," Silver mumbles before sitting back down on the log. I sat down next to him.

"How do you want me to help you?" I ask.

"Give me advice on what I should do. Should I join our father or stand firm. If I join that man, then I can support my mother, but my mother got out of Team Rocket for a reason. If I don't join them though, then our father will leak everything about me to the authorities. I don't know what to do," Silver explained to me.

"Neither choice is easy, and it will be hard either way. If I were in your exact position though, I know what I would do though it may be hard to do so," I told my brother.

"What would you do?" Silver asked me.

"I would join with our father," I say flatly. Silver looked at me in shock, betrayal shining in his eyes.

"What! Why? I thought I could trust you!" Silver yelled at me and he jumped up and began to grab his things.

"Sometimes, the path isn't straight and you have to plan for a major curve down the line. If I were in your position, I would join Team Rocket but use my position to do as much damage to them as possible. I would even let police know through an alibi what my position is and leak them as much information as possible to help tear Team Rocket down from the inside," I say. Silver stops and looks at me.

"You really think so?" Silver asked me.

"That is just what I would do. You however, you haven't had as much time as I have had to let the wounds heal. You have had to fight for long enough as it is. I know what my place in life is, and I have come to accept my place. You don't know what you are doing yet. Ultimately, you are the one who has to make the choice. Either way, I will help you as best I can," I tell my brother.

"I know that in the end I have to make a choice. If I don't, then everything will be released to authorities anyway. I, I just don't want to make the wrong choice," Silver tells me.

"There was something that my father figure taught me. 'In life, we all have to make choices. No matter what the options are, there is no right or wrong, so we just have to follow what we feel can do the most good according to our moral code. If we do that, then we should be fine.' He would always tell me that when I said I didn't want to make the wrong choice. After a while, I started realising how true that was. My job is to help people, but I can't save everyone in the world. No one can. So, I do my best to save everyone that I can. There is never a right and wrong choice in life, there are many options that create different paths. We just have to choose one and hope that it takes us where we want to go," I tell my brother.

"I guess that makes some sense. I still don't know what to do though," Silver moaned.

"Then don't make your choice right now. Forget about it for a while. You are my brother, and I want to get to know you, the real you, not the persona you show everyone else," I say softly.

"What is there to really say? I'm sixteen, a criminal, and in hot water," Silver mutters as he turns to face away from me. I grab his chin and force him to look me in the eye.

"NEVER say THAT ever again! You are much more than that, I can tell just from looking at you, Silver. You are unique in ways that NO ONE could ever understand. Not to mention, you are my brother, and I know for a fact that my family is a tangled-up mess, nothing is simple with us," I scold him.

"Well I've only ever had my mum to rely on before! Excuse me for having trust issues! I don't even know what you look like or even your real name! You claim to by my brother, but how can I know for certain?" Silver questioned me as he ripped himself out of my hold.

"Silver, I understand that you can't fully trust me, but I have to protect my own identity to protect you and the rest of my family. There are people out there who will hunt you down because of the fact that you are my brother, they will use you to try and weaken me, and they won't care if you die. I care about you though. If I wanted to turn you into the authorities, I could have done so before now, but I haven't because the only family member of mine that deserves to be in jail is our biological father. I know that it is hard for you to trust me, but I swear that I will never do anything to hurt you," I tell him softly.

"Why help me?" Silver muttered under his breath.

"Because you remind me of myself before I lost my innocence. You have yet to be truly broken by the world despite how much you have seen, I don't have that anymore. You are my little brother, and I want to protect your innocence for as long as I can. You still have a child-like innocence that I lost years ago, and I want to help you retain that. I wasn't there while you were growing up, I couldn't protect you then, so I want to make up for that by helping you as much as I can now," I replied without thinking. I had always wanted a little brother who I shared blood with, a little brother I could protect from harm. Silver wasn't exactly 'little' but he was still innocent.

"I'm just a stupid kid without an education who is only good at being a criminal though," Silver protested.

"When I left on my Pokémon journey at the age of ten, I enraged an entire flock of Spearow and got hit by a bolt of lightning. If you are a 'stupid kid' then I must be an absolute idiot who doesn't have two brain cells to rub together," I tell him.

"Did you really?" Silver asked me.

"Yep, still have the scars. My left eye is useless now days because of how much damage I received back on the first day of my journey," I say while pointing to my dud eye.

"Once, when I was really little, I got lost in a forest. A Spearow found me though and she led me back home. I didn't see her again, but I've always had some respect for the Spearow line since then. I even have a Fearow now," Silver shared with me.

"We all have a starting point, so it doesn't really matter. What does matter though is how well you work together," I tell my brother.

"I know what you mean. Fearow and I work well together, even better than Feraligatr and I do," Silver replies.

"I'm guessing you have a team that you travel with then?" I comment.

"Yeah, Fearow, Feraligatr, Crobat, Weavile, Gengar, and Alakazam. I also have a Magnezone that mainly keeps my mum company most of the time. I don't have too much money for Pokéballs, so I tend to just use the random ones that I find laying around," Silver explained.

"Damn, you have one more Pokémon than I do. When I started on my journey years back, the professor that gave me Pikachu gave me five Pokéballs to get me started. For ten years, those were the only Pokéballs I ever got, and I used them on one Pokémon each, which is why I have six Pokémon total. After ten years of training with my pseudo brothers, I just didn't find it necessary to catch any others," I tell my brother.

"'Pseudo brothers'?" Silver asks.

"I spent ten years side by side with my Pokémon, ten years of training each other to our limits every day, ten years of having almost no one but each other. It only became natural for us to think of each other as brothers. We share a bond that is inseparable. No matter where in the world any of us, we always know where the others are. It is because of these facts that I refer to them as my pseudo-brothers," I explained.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Silver admitted.

"Yeah, we're kind of a weird mix. Lucario and Charizard are like the older brothers who argue about everything, Sceptile is like the older scholarly brother. Gengar is the childish younger brother who only cares about pranks. Pikachu is the older brother who acts like a baby. And Greninja is like my twin," I say.

"I know what you mean. My Gengar, she is always playing pranks as well. Weavile and Fearow are always fighting. Alakazam and Magnezone are the scholarly pair, always trading strategies when they're together. And Crobat, well, she's the one who tries to break up the fights," Silver replies.

"Hmm, do you think we should introduce our Gengars to each other?" I ask.

"I think it would start a massive pranking war," Silver dead panned.

"Ah, but perhaps they will be too distracted by each other to notice us," I say with amusement.

"What do you mean?" Silver asked me. I leaned over and whispered two words.

"Match-making," Silver turns to look at me with wide eyes and smiles.

"That would be a funny thing to see. Two childish Gengars, trying to flirt with each other," Silver admitted while laughing.

"So, you agree, right? If it ends up backfiring on us though, I will take the blame," I offer.

"Agreed," Silver says as he grabs one of his Pokéballs and I summon my Gengar's Pokéball. We hold them out together and let out our respective ghost types.

For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, they didn't do anything but stare. After quite a long time (especially since I know for a fact that my prankster brother cannot stay still for a moment) Silver's Gengar moves.

She floats forward and puts up a ghostly hand to trace my Gengar's face which causes him to jump slightly at realising that what he was seeing was in fact real. From there, things escalated quickly. One moment, my ghost-type brother was running around in a panic while Silver's Gengar snickered quietly, the next, the two had floated off together and out of sight.

"That was… interesting," Silver commented and I burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Silver asked.

"Oh, it's just that Gengar is the least mature out of all my Pokémon brothers, Greninja and Sceptile are much more mature and ready to start a family with a mate, yet Gengar has beaten them both to it," I explain.

"How many of your Pokémon have 'mates' then?" Silver asked.

"Well, Pikachu, Lucario, Charizard, and now Gengar. That makes four. I swear, Sceptile and Greninja will end up going spaz over this," I say while still chuckling.

We spend another few hours just chatting about random things while we waited for the two ghost types to return. When they do, I wasn't surprised in the least when they were each holding an egg.

"Who keeps the eggs?" Silver asked me.

"Well, laws would say that you have the right to both of the eggs as the mother is one of your Pokémon, however, neither of us are exactly following the laws word for word," I say.

"I don't think I can take care of two eggs," Silver admits.

"If you want, I can give them to someone I trust, a Pokémon Professor in fact. I won't tell him about you or your involvement, just that my Gengar mated with another Gengar while I was out training," I offer.

"I think, that may just be the best option," Silver says while nodding. I return Gengar to his Pokéball, and Silver does the same with his Gengar. I carefully wrap the eggs in thick, fluffy cloth to keep them warm and safe from being squashed.

Just as I was about to leave Silver, he called out for me to wait. I turn to face him and I am met with a strong hug. "Thank you, for helping me," Silver told me. I wrap my arms around him carefully.

"I'll always help you when you need it. You're my brother, my flesh and blood brother, I won't abandon you when you need me," I tell him while resting my cheek against the top of his head.

"I know what I'm going to do. I'm scared, but I'm going to do it so that I can help people," Silver told me in a soft whisper.

"Yeah, and what would that be?" I ask pulling back to look him directly in the eye.

"I'm going to join Team Rocket and do what you said you would have done," Silver told me with unshed tears in his eyes.

"Remember, you may be doing this willingly, but the moment you want out, you write to me and I will get you out as fast as possible," I tell him.

"Yeah. I promise," Silver assures me. The moment becomes awkward quickly, so Silver picks up his rucksack before hauling it onto his back as I stand at the edge of the clearing.

"I'm going to get going. Once I do, it won't be long before Team Rocket Grunts find me. I'll tell them to take me back to base with them and join them as a member of Team Rocket from there. Promise you will help me if I need it?" Silver explained.

"Always, baby brother," I say making the corners of Silver's mouth turn up in a smile.

"I think I like having an older brother," Silver says before walking away. As he does, I realise that I could have given Silver a third option, a way out of all of it. Once I know for sure that Silver can't see me anymore, I let my legs buckle and fall to my knees.

"You idiot! You could have given him somewhere safe to go! You could have helped him out of this situation, given him a way out! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I yell at myself. I feel tears streaming down my face and I pound my fist against the dirt, causing it to crack and shift from the impact. For a whole half an hour, I curse myself for my stupidity. Only then do I get up and call out to Mewtwo.

"You ready to go back?" the psychic-type asks me.

"No, I have to take two eggs to Professor Oak," I say.

"Alright, I'll take you there first," Mewtwo tells me. I feel Mewtwo grabbing my arm and teleporting me to Professor Oak's lab. Once there, I grab a piece of paper and a pen and write a message for Professor Oak. I put the two Ghastly eggs into two empty incubators on the centre table. I let out Gengar so he can make sure that everything is fine. Once he gives a noise of approval, I turn to face Mewtwo again.

"I'm ready to head back," I say. Mewtwo grabs my arm again and teleports Pikachu and I back to Summer Camp. The sun is setting and I head to my friend's cabin. From there I spread out on the floor of the cabin and cover my face with a pillow. I know I should be hungry about now, but I honestly don't feel hungry at all. I sort of snooze for a while, well, something between snoozing and meditating, and I can feel myself relax and de-stress. I don't even flinch when I hear the door swing open loudly.

"ASH!" I hear four voices cry out and I get jumped on by two people.

"Oof! Alright, alright, I'm up," I say. Bonnie is seated on my stomach while Serena is situated to the side of me with her arms slung around my neck and her head buried just under my chin.

"Where have you been?" Serena asked me.

"I left a letter," I replied weakly.

"'I had to go on mission. I should be back before tomorrow morning.' That doesn't tell me anything!" Serena scolded me.

"It is all I could say, Serena. If I wrote anything else then my position could have been compromised no matter how unlikely it would be. I wasn't even completely sure what I would need to do, only that it wouldn't be a long mission," I told my girlfriend to placate her.

"Did you fight bad guys?" Bonnie asked me with curiosity clearly written on her face.

"No, Bonnie, I wasn't fighting bad guys today. There was a criminal in Jhoto who was being pressured by Team Rocket into joining them. He isn't a criminal by choice, and is only sixteen. My mission was to help calm him down and give him unbiased advice to the best of my ability. Most of it was just talking to be honest," I tell Bonnie.

"Aww! Aren't super-secret agents supposed to fight bad guys though?" Bonnie protested.

"Sometimes, but not all the time. Sometimes we have to give someone a shoulder to cry on, which is what he needed. Sometimes, we have to help people forget everything going on around them, even if it is just for a little while, and he needed that as well. My job is to help people, Bonnie, not just fight the bad guys," I explain to the eight-year-old.

"Oh, I see. Hey, we need to tell you about what we did today!" Bonnie tells me excitedly.

"Yes, today was rather interesting. We were baking. Not just baking though, we had to go out and find all the ingredients hidden around the main camp site. It took everyone ages and in the end, we only had two hours to do the actual baking," Gary told me.

"Is that so? What did you end up making?" I questioned.

"We mostly let Clemont and Serena do it. Bonnie and I just chopped things up the way they asked us do it. We were kind of too lost to do anything else," Gary told me with a shrug. I turned to look Serena in the eyes and she blushed.

"Clemont and I may have gone overboard," she admitted.

"How overboard are we talking about here?" I asked carefully.

"We may have made a cake replica of Prism Tower with all the rooms inside of it and the plaza around it. Complete with tourists and Pokémon," Clemont offered. I hung my head in my hands as I began laughing.

"Of course you did. As if you would do anything less than over the top," I manage to get out. Gary and Bonnie are the first to join in with my laughing and it doesn't take long for Clemont and Serena to join in as well.

"So, how about we play a game?" Bonnie suggests.

"Bonnie, we don't have any games here!" Clemont scolded his sister.

"Clemont, just because we don't have any board games doesn't mean that we can't play a game. In fact, I know one game that I used to play with the baby legendries back in the Hall of Origin quite often," I offered. Serena hit me over the head at that.

"Ash, we aren't babies," she scolded me.

"I know you aren't, but it is a game that is good for anyone," I explained.

"That sounds like fun, what is it?" Gary asks me. I smirk, oh they are going to regret this later.

"Blind taste testing," I say.

"What?" the others say.

"Well, I have a bunch of berries in my backpack, and I know that Serena and Clemont have all sorts of cooking foods in their bags. So all we have to do is put portions of different berries and foods into containers. Then, we each take one random container each and one at a time, put a blindfold on and eat the contents of the container. Trust me, it is one of the most funny things I have ever done," I told my friends.

"Well…" Serena trailed off.

"I want to try!" Bonnie shouted.

"Bonnie!" Clemont began to scold.

"And you have to do it too, Clemont!" Bonnie continued on.

"I'll join in too," Gary stated while chuckling.

"I guess it wouldn't be so bad," Serena conceded.

Once the game got started, our cabin became a mess. So far, I had eaten Tamato Berries, a whole scoop of pure salt, a revival herb, and some Ganlon Berries. Bonnie had eaten Wiki Berries, tea leaves, Custap Berries, and some mushrooms. Garry had eaten Kee berries, paprika, cream, and Lapapa Berries (he looked like he was about to vomit). Clemont had eaten sugar, Chesto Berries, coffee beans, and Figy Berries, so he was extremely hyper at the moment. Serena had gotten lucky with her containers and had so far eaten Mago Berries, Sitrus Berries, Moomoo milk, and marshmallows.

When professor Sycamore came to check on us, I felt immensely sorry for him. Clemont was bouncing off the walls, Bonnie was slightly loopy while laughing like a mad-girl, Gary looked like he was about to throw up as he put a Rowap berry into his mouth, Serena was covering her eyes in disgust form watching Gary attempting to eat without vomiting, and I was spitting out the Spelon berry I had just eaten.

"What is going on in here?" Professor Sycamore demanded.

"We're playing a game. It's called Blind Taste Testing. Unfortunately, some of the foods we've been using are affecting the other's behaviours," Serena explained. At that moment, Gary pushed me away from the sink and began to vomit violently.

"This is the second time Gary has thrown up," Bonnie chimed in with a giggle.

"Yep, and Clemont has been bouncing off the walls for the past hour and a half. He keeps managing to choose the containers that contain enough caffeine or sugar to keep a Snorlax awake for months," I say before drinking some water trying to get the awful taste of Spelon berry out of my mouth.

"I see. Just, try not to wreck the camp site," Professor Sycamore begged us. Bonnie and I shared a look and burst out laughing.

"Professor, I think trying is out of the question. Sooner or later, one of us is going to go crazy and escape the cabin to do something weird," I say carefully.

"Just, try to keep it in as long as possible. Maybe that way the other campers and staff will think it is simply a strange dream," he replied while holding his head. It was at that moment Clemont snapped and jumped out a window with nothing but his underwear on.

"Professor, I think you just jinxed it," Serena pointed out.

"Yes, I can see that," the professor grumbled as he left the cabin.

"Who's going to go and get Clemont before he does something dangerous?" Gary asked.

"I'll do it," I offered. The others sighed and I didn't blame them. Clemont was dancing around, rather badly to be honest, and the underwear hadn't stayed on for long. By this point, I felt sorry for everyone seeing this.

I ran over to the gym leader/inventor with a bathrobe in my hands and forced it on him. He struggled but he wasn't strong enough to break out my hold as I dragged him back to the cabin. That is when Clemont starting singing, very loudly, and very out of key. Clemont could play Violin with the best of them, but singing? No, he could not sing. I had to cover my ears to protect them from the ear-splitting noise, and that was just what Clemont needed to get away from me.

Cursing with very colourful language spilling out of my mouth, I ducked into the cabin, grabbed some earmuffs and one of Clemont's oil rags, and ran after Clemont once again. With the earmuffs on, I could drown out most of Clemont's singing, and once I reached him, I stuffed the rag into his mouth, effectively shutting him up. Not taking any chances, I hauled Clemont over my shoulder and ran back to the cabin and locked the door and windows so that Clemont couldn't escape.

"Okay, let us never speak of this night again. Clemont obviously cannot sing or dance, and we should never give him caffeine, sugar, or energy drinks, because when we do, this happens," I say while taking off the earmuffs.

"Agreed," the others said immediately.

We ended up having to tie Clemont to his bed to stop him from trying to escape the cabin or hurting himself with his overly-hyper actions. We had to wear ear plugs or earmuffs that night, because Clemont kept on spitting out the rag we used to shut him up with (thank Arceus that the cabins are sound proof) and I could swear that at some point during the night, Serena had levitated Clemont's heavy backpack over him and dropped it on top of him in an attempt to try and get him to pass out and get some sleep. It did work though, which the rest of us were very grateful for.

Exhaustion washed over me and I welcomed the darkness of sleep, hoping that my rare dreams did not decide to haunt me in my sleeping state, they tended to be prophetic to some degree.

Unfortunately for me, I dreamed of red vines eating away at the world as green light tried to fight back against the vines. I saw a pure black aura caressing the vines almost lovingly as a large group of light blue auras tried to help the green light fight against the vines. A pink glow shrouded the world and heat was burning up anything that came too close to the source of it.

I knew that this was one of my prophetic visions, curtesy of my psychic abilities and tuning in with the aura of the world, and I hoped that my vision could be stopped before it came to bear the fruit of its destruction. I hated when I saw visions of disasters, they always left me paranoid for weeks.

' _Just another sleepless night'_ I thought to myself as I switched from trying to sleep to meditating. I would not be able to sleep after that vision.

 _My son, worry not about your vision for now. Tonight is not the time to worry about such a threat, if it shall ever come to be._ Father Arceus projected into my meditative mind as I began to quietly and lowly hum.

 **A/N: Hello everyone! I know I haven't updated in a while, but my muse refused to work with me. That and school was horrible to me and I have been shiny hunting.**

 **First off, the people who let me know on their opinion of the band name was quite iffy, so I have delayed announcing any names. If you want to give me band name ideas, leave it in a review or a PM, either is fine. Also, continuing that, if you have songs that you would like our quintet to perform, either PM me or leave a review with what the song is and who it is by. I have already started work on a few songs, so I know for certain that they will turn up again.**

 **Secondly, there have been no new OCs accepted, so if you want to check the list, it is in the last chapter. I still need more OCs, so send them in if you have ideas. If after I have accepted your OC and you have more you want to tell me about them, If you have an account, send it in a PM, please, it gets annoying when I get a notification that someone has reviewed this story and it turns out to be a further explanation of an OC I have already accepted. Thank you for reading that rant, but it is annoying.**

 **Thirdly, I have decided that since everyone seems to want Clemont to get Electivire, it is now official in this storyline, Clemont will get an Electivire at SOME POINT during the Kalos arc. The poll for the sixth Pokémon Clemont will have is as follows:**

 **\- Elektross: 0**

 **\- Togedemaru: 1**

 **\- Zebstrika: 1**

 **\- Galvantula: 1**

 **Lastly, regarding Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, I will take into account the details I like from the gameplay once I have played it (after it is released of course), so yes, there will be an Alola arc (I think I've mentioned that before). How much of the canon I will incorporate depends on how well I can merge it into my story and theory ideas for this whole fanfic.**

 **Until next time readers!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever own Pokémon.**

 **Chapter 10**

 **Ash's P.O.V.**

The following morning was quite confusing for Clemont who couldn't work out why he was tied to his bed with his backpack on his stomach and an oil rag next to his head.

Actually, he had screamed when he woke up, loud enough that the other's woke up and I snapped out of my meditation. Needless to say, three people fell from height that morning. I fell from my rafter, Bonnie fell out of bed and would have landed on her broken arm if Serena hadn't managed to catch her using psychic powers to catch her, and Gary had bolted upright, hit his head, and rolled of the edge of his bed, ending up face down on the hard timber floor.

"Are we in agreement to never again allow Clemont to eat or drink any form of sugar or caffeine?" Gary asks once he picks himself up off the floor.

"Yes," Serena, Bonnie, and I chimed together while Clemont just stared at us blankly.

"We all swore not to speak of what happened last night ever again. It was traumatising. Be grateful that you don't remember it," I tell Clemont.

"Can someone help me get up, please?" Clemont asked.

"Sure thing, Clemont," Serena said as she got up and went to help Clemont out of his bindings. Once Clemont was untied, he went to stand up, and promptly fell down, thankfully not hitting his head on something hard on the way down. Apparently, he had hit his head on the edge of the bed above him as he stood up.

"Clemont, I thought you were meant to be smart. You just hit your head on something right in front of you," Gary teased.

"Yeah, wasn't my smartest idea, that's for sure," Clemont moans.

"Greninja, use ice beam on the floor," I say as I let out my trusted partner. He uses a small ice beam and I pick up the chunk of ice and put it against Clemont's head.

"Keep this on it, it should help keep the swelling down," I tell him.

"Thanks, Ash," Clemont says as he holds the ice there. The rest of us get ready for the day and waited until Clemont had gotten himself ready before heading to the breakfast hall. The moment we walked in, there were a lot of snickers and younger campers covering their eyes or hitting their heads on the table.

"Serena, what happened last night? I mean, I don't mind seeing Clemont in that state of undress, but that was not what I had in mind," Shauna asked me as she sat down at our table, right next to Clemont, causing Clemont to go stiff and blush completely red.

"We agreed not to discuss it, but a word of warning, don't give Clemont sugar or caffeine, it does not do any good," Serena replied with a sigh.

"That may be something I need to keep a note of," Shauna stated with a giggle.

"Shauna!" Serena gasped.

"Well it's true!" Shauna states before grabbing the chunk of ice off of Clemont and holding it in place for him.

"Thanks Shauna," Clemont mutters. Silence ensues for a few blissful moments as everyone shovels food into their mouths with various levels of grace (Serena using her psychic powers didn't let a single crumb land astray, while on the opposite end of the spectrum, Bonnie probably needed another shower thanks to the copious amounts of food that she now wore). Eventually, Professor Sycamore walks up onto stage.

"Good Morning campers! Today is the second last day of camp, and unfortunately, tomorrow's activity consists of announcing the winners and taking photos, cleaning up camp, and those sorts of things. Today however, we have a multi-battle tournament. Three trainers from each cabin will battle alongside each other as a team. These teams will then battle against each other in a tournament style format. The last two teams standing will face each other and take first and second place respectively. The teams they faced before hand will also face each other to fight for third place. Now, head to your cabins to get your strategies ready. Be ready to fight in half an hour," Professor Sycamore announces.

"Let's GO!" Bonnie exclaims before running off ahead of us.

"Bonnie, I think you should go and have a shower while the rest of us talk," I call out after her. Serena and Gary nod in agreement and Clemont just moans from the loud noise (his head was still sore from hitting his head).

"Okay! I'll have my shower!" Bonnie calls back and I just chuckle. The rest of us continue on our way to the cabin and once there we sit down in the booth in the corner.

"Alright, so who should battle?" Gary asks.

" I don't think I should. My brothers are too strong for a competition like this. I'm not being arrogant, just honest. I have no doubt the trainers here are strong, but I don't think it would be fair for them to have to fight against me," I say.

"Understandable. From what I've seen, your Pokémon are on a level unlike any other that I've ever seen. It is almost like they have absorbed the power of a legendry Pokémon and have maximised its power," Clemont says. "Like a regular circuit being hit with lightning and being able to use its power, it creates something on a completely unknown and unseen. Such power should not be played with for trivial activities," Clemont says, taking the ice off his head.

"So, we're in agreement, Ash shouldn't fight in this activity. That just leaves us three since Bonnie isn't a trainer yet. Next we need to decide what strategy we're going to use," Gary comments. "Any suggestions?"

"Well, Umbreon is the strongest of our Pokémon, so I think she should be in the centre, able to attack all opponents," Serena suggests.

"In that case, Fenekin and Bunnelby will be good to cover Umbreon," I state.

"That makes a lot of sense. As for combining moves, both Umbreon and Bunnelby can use dig, so having them use it at the same time would greatly confuse opponents. Then there could be a shadow ball, hidden power, and mud bomb combination," Gary suggests.

"I'm working on teaching Bunnelby wild charge, but it is coming along slowly. We can get a slight electrical pulse to cover his fur though," Clemont adds.

"I wouldn't rely on that. If it is still being trained it wouldn't be an incredibly smart idea to use it in the incorrect way. Of course, using it in conjunction with tackle would give you an upper hand and the element of surprise, but it would only work the once," I offer.

"He's right. If we need to use it, we'll save it for the finals, when we get there," Gary adds.

"I guess that makes sense. Is there anything else that we can use to our advantage though?" Clemont asks.

"Well, I could use my psychic powers a create a psychic bond between us and our Pokémon, that way our opponents won't know what we're doing," Serena suggests.

"I don't think that is the best idea, Serena. Psychic bonds are difficult to maintain, especially if it is your first psychic bond. The process the two of us have been using is different to a psychic bond, it is more of a projection of thoughts directly into someone else's mind. Psychic bonds are a free-flowing passage and it drains the user heavily while in place. While it is good to be confident, being overly confident can only set you back," I tell my girlfriend.

"I, didn't realise there is a difference between the two," Serena admits.

"Most don't actually. For most psychics, they use telepathy and psychic bonds interchangeably. This is especially true among those self-taught or taught by someone who gives them the false information either purposefully or accidentally. When working with powers, the self-taught are among the most volatile, and, more often than not, easily lose control. That's why it is important to get a teacher when the powers are just awakening, there have been cases of people who have killed family members from losing control," I warn.

"Then it is a good thing I have you to teach me and stop me from making mistakes," Serena replies, leaning over the table and kissing me.

"Ew! Stop! No PDA!" Gary protests childishly making Serena and I chuckle at that.

"You sound just like a child," Serena comments.

"So, watching you two suck each other's face off is disgusting," Gary replies. I lean over to Gary.

"I bet you would find it pleasurable if it was you and Misty doing the 'face-sucking'," I whispered into his ear, making him go bright red and start spluttering.

After that, it didn't take too long to get the rest of the plans sorted out, and I had decided that on top of teaching Serena how to use psychic powers, I needed start helping her Pokémon to learn how to control their own psychic powers.

As we walked towards the stadium that had been put up, I started musing over some different ways to teach Serena, Gary, and Bonnie more about their powers.

Not all the battles were spectacular, as members of one side either wouldn't or couldn't work together, while other battles were marvellous displays of teamwork and power. One of those battles was Team Vivillon vs Team Froakie Semi Final. Team Vivillon was obviously used to working together in aerial battles, but Team Froakie was using burrowing tactics to confuse and attack their opponents.

It ended with Serena and Gary combining their Hidden Power and Shadow Ball respectively to knock out their opponents after Bunnelby had grounded them with mud bomb.

"That was awesome!" Bonnie exclaimed from next to me.

"Indeed. Team Vivillon seems to have experience in working together in aerial battles. However, they still made mistakes, just like everyone," I tell her.

"You NEVER make mistakes though," she comments innocently. I sigh.

"Oh, how I wish those words were true, Bonnie, but even I make mistakes," I tell her. She turns to me with a questioning look on her face, but I wave it away, making it clear that I wasn't going to comment on it.

"We made it to the final round!" Serena squeals as she takes her seat next to me.

"Not so loud next to my ear," I say jokingly while rubbing my ear. Serena laughs at this and Gary shakes his head in his hand.

"You two are so disgusting and cheesy," he complains.

"I bet that you're like this with your girlfriend," Serena fires back. Bonnie giggles at this.

"Gary, I think your pants are on fire from that burn," she tells him with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Hardy har har," Gary says while rolling his eyes.

"Come on, let's go get all of your Pokémon healed. It wouldn't be good for you to go into a battle with tired partners," I suggest.

Gary points at me. "Yes, listen to him, he has a good idea! Now we can stop mocking me!" Gary states all too eagerly.

"If that's how it's going to be, then why don't I tell them why my nickname for you is 'Gare-Bare'?" I tease.

"NO!" Gary protests. "If you tell them that story, then I will tell about the time you almost got eaten by a Gyarados because you wanted to 'catch' it!"

"By all means. In fact, I'll tell it myself. So, I was six years old and had decided, 'I'm going to be a Pokémon Master. To be a Pokémon Master, I need strong Pokémon. There are strong Pokémon at the lake, like the Gyarados. I'm going to catch Gyarados'. So, I snuck out of the house and went to the lake just inside the forest near Pallet town. I fell into the lake, and saw Gyarados right in front of me. I got scared and tried to swim to the shore, but kicked Gyarados in the head accidentally. This didn't end all that well for me as Gyarados decided that I would make a wonderful meal. If it wasn't for professor Oak, I would have been eaten, but instead, I just chewed out by my mother," I recount without any shame. Bonnie giggles at my story, Clemont's mouth is handing open with his eyes buldging, Serena rolls her eyes, and Gary just flops onto the ground and groans.

"There is nothing I can do to stop you right now without digging my own grave, is there?" he asks.

"You are completely correct," I say WAY too chirpily.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Gary moaned.

"If you want to play with fire, Gary, you need to be ready to get burnt," I tell him, being cryptic on purpose.

"Why? I hate it when you're cryptic!" Gary whines.

"Want some cheese with that whine?" Serena asks in a very sweet voice.

"You guys are horrible," Gary states before walking off in front of us.

"I think we took it one comment too far," Clemont says nervously.

"Don't worry, Gary's a huge drama queen, and it takes more than that to get Gary truly upset," I say, especially since I had felt the feeling of joy coming from Gary's aura. He had enjoyed joking around as far as I could tell.

The four of us continued to the Pokémon Centre where Gary was waiting for us.

"You guys are so slow," he teases.

"Well, there is a winner in every race, we just thought we should let you be the winner for once," I say with a smirk.

"How rude! I am the great Gary Oak, no one can hope to beat me!" Gary claims dramatically.

"In your dreams!" Bonnie fires back while giggling.

"We need to do more of this stuff, really," Gary states, "Because I refuse to be outdone by this little magikarp."

"Magikarp evolve into Gyarados, so you're saying that once I grow a bit, I will be VERY strong, so thank you!" Bonnie says earnestly.

"Can't argue with that," Gary says with a shrug.

"So, you weren't upset by the joking?" Clemont asks.

"Nope. You guys are friends, so I know that it is all meant in fun. Besides, I missed not being able to joke around with Ash for thirteen years," Gary replies.

"I though Ash was only missing for ten years?" Serena asked.

"I was. However, about three years before Gary and I set out from Pallet ten years ago, there was an incident and we became rivals. We said a lot of hurtful things to each other during those three years, some of it being outright bullying on Gary's end. There were jabs at family, ability, grades, anything and everything we could think of to try and one-up each other. It wasn't pretty, especially when we got into physical fights since those would end with at least a few broken bones and a lot of lost blood. There was even one occasion when we both ended up in hospital. I won't say I'm proud of what we did back then, but that rivalry was one of the main reasons both of us wanted to become trainers, and look where we've gotten to," I explain. Serena and Clemont both wince while Bonnie just looks at them questioningly.

"I have to agree with Ash there. A lot of the things we did back then weren't exactly 'nice' and we did end up in hospital because of it. I'm not proud of what we did, but it is part of our past, it is part of what makes us who we are, but I won't let it define my future," Gary states with a shrug.

"I don't get it," Bonnie half asks.

"Don't worry about it Caterpie, you don't need to 'get it'," I tell her while ruffling her hair before I suggest we go and get our Pokémon a check-up like we had originally planned to. We decided to sit in the lobby of the Pokémon centre and go over our strategies for the finals while we were waiting for our Pokémon to be done with their check-up.

"How about Umbreon using Flash to confuse them and get them off beat, assuming that they will be using Tierno's rhythmic battle style, followed by a Hidden Power and Mud Bomb combo?" Gary suggests about two hours into the planning session.

"That sounds pretty good, but what if they are ready for Flash?" Clemont asks.

"Here's another option. If Bunnelby uses dig multiple times to create huge tunnel networks, when Flash is put into play, Umbreon can use Iron tail at the same time on the ground to cause a pseudo-earthquake and collapse the tunnels. That would then cause the ground to become extremely uneven on their side of the field but easily traversable on our side. That would make it easier for us to dodge incoming attacks and harder for them to dodge. Overall, it would give us a huge advantage going forward in the battle," I suggest.

"Going on from that, if Bunnelby makes it _look_ like he's trying to hit them during the whole process of the digging the tunnels, then they won't be expecting it," Serena adds on.

"What about using Fennekin's Flamethrower and Umbreon's Shadow Ball to create a small explosion to give the flash enough time to be put into effect. NO! Even better idea! Bunnelby can use Mud Bomb to take out their vision, so the Flash is even MORE effective when they get the mud out of their eyes!" Bonnie suggests.

"Brilliant!" Gary exclaims. Clemont brings out a piece of paper and starts sketching out the plan.  
"We should probably start out with Flamethrower to give Bunnelby cover. After that, random attacks to make it seem like we're disorganised may just work as a distraction. From there, we use Mud Bomb as a quick distraction for Flash and Iron Tail to swing the battle field to our advantage. From that, we move to the Hidden Power and Mud Bomb combo," Clemont says as he sketches everything out.

"After watching all the matches, it seems most likely that they will use Tierno's style, but will also use an instant KO like Solar Beam if they can buy Bulbasaur enough time," I chip in.

"So… all we have to do is stop Bulbasaur from charging Solar Beam?" Bonnie asks. I ruffle her hair.

"That sounds about right to me," I tell her.

"So, we have a plan?" Gary asks in confirmation. Everyone nods in reply. "Lets do this then."

We go pick up our Pokémon and in come Shauna, Trevor and Tierno.

"We're here to pick up our Pokémon, Nurse Joy," Trevor says.

"That's odd. I don't remember getting them," Nurse Joy replies.

"Something wrong?" Clemont asks Shauna.

"Yes, our Pokémon have gone missing. The three chefs told us that they had medical training and would give our Pokémon a check-up in the Pokémon centre and that they would give our Pokémon to Nurse Joy when they were done, but our Pokémon aren't here," Shauna says.

"Are you sure? How long ago did you give them your partners?" I ask.

"Hours ago. Right after your match, actually," Tierno informs us.

"That doesn't make sense. If they have had medical training then there is no way a check up should have taken so long," Gary muses.

While the others argued about what was happening, I cast my mind back and focused on the memories with the chefs. There were three of them, one with purple hair, one with magenta hair, and a short one with brown hair. Disguises? Maybe.

"What if they're Pokémon thieves?!" Shauna cried out worriedly. That was when it snapped into place.

"They're not chefs. Thinking back, they match three of the four team rocket members we've been running into lately. We have to move fast, hopefully they haven't gone too far," I say.

"Ash is right, we have to move fast. We'll split up into pairs. Hopefully we can find them before its too late," Gary backs me up.

"Who should go with who?" Tierno asks.

"We need to cover ground fast so Trevor and Clemont as the slowest two members search closest to camp in the forest. Gary and Tierno, you search up along the beach and into the forest from there. Serena and Shauna, you do the same down the beach. Bonnie and I will search the forest farthest from camp as the two fastest members. We have to find those Pokémon, fast," I say. The others nod and run to go search in those directions. I turn to Bonnie and crouch down.

"Climb onto my back. You look around from my back while keep running," I tell her.

"Okay," she replies before jumping on.

"Grab Charizard's Pokéball and let him out for me," I say. Bonnie does. and I tell Charizard to look from the air for team Rocket. "Hold on," I warn Bonnie before I start running.

After an hour of looking, it seemed like there was still nothing to be found.

"We are just going to stop for a few moments, so I can check with the others.

" _Have you guys found them?"_ I project mentally to Clemont, Serena, and Gary.

" _No, there's been no luck going down the beach, but Shauna and I are still looking,"_ Serena replied while Clemont and Gary just sent a single 'no' down the connection.

"Any luck?" Bonnie asks.

"No, none so far, but we can't give up hope," I reply.

"Look! Charizard is signalling to us!" Bonnie yells. I wince from the close proximity to the sound and look up. Sure enough, there is Charizard, circling above us.

"Hold on tight," I warn before jumping straight up, using tree branches as leverage, to land on Charizard's back. "Alright brother, take us to the thieves," I ask Charizard. The wind whistles around us as Charizard races towards the Team Rocket members.

"There, that's them just up ahead!" Bonnie tells me while pointing.

"Bonnie, I'm going down there, but I need you to stay on Charizard and go find the others to tell them that I'm engaging with Team Rocket," I tell my student.

"Okay," she tells me before hugging me. "See you soon, I hope." The moment her arms aren't wrapped around my midsection, I jump down in front of the thieves.

"Now, where do you think you are going with those stolen Pokémon?" I ask in a dark tone.

"Oh, shoot, not this guy," the purple haired one groans.

"James! We can do this, we have hostage Pokémon this time!" The lady hisses at him. I decide that I'm not going to play around, and everything turns blue as I start using my psychic powers to throw them against a tree. Then the container they were holding the three stolen Pokémon in was ripped to shreds and they collapse from exhaustion. I turn my head back to the criminals and suddenly they are being thrown all over the small clearing like they were ragdolls.

By the time I'm done with them, I'm surprised that they aren't dead. Giovanni must provide some form of armour for his grunts.

"Gengar, come out," I say while releasing my ghostly brother from his Pokéball.

"Gen?" he asks.

"Take these three somewhere. I don't care where, just so long as it isn't Kalos, Kanto, or Johto," I tell him while pointing to the members of Team Rocket. My brother nods and pulls them into his highway of shadows. Carefully, I bend down to pick up the three exhausted Pokémon and run fast enough to turn water into steam back to camp.

"Nurse Joy! These three Pokémon need urgent medical attention!" I say as I burst into the Pokémon centre.

"Oh dear, they do not look like they are in any form of good condition," the nurse replies and she takes them from me before rushing into the treatment room. I sigh and walk outside of the centre, looking for the others to return.

" _I've brought Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle to the Pokémon Centre. Gengar is transporting the culprits out of Kalos at this very moment,"_ I send to Serena, Gary, and Clemont telepathically.

An hour passes before everyone has met back up at the Pokémon Centre and Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno are all pacing nervously as they wait for Nurse Joy to clear their respective partners for tonight's battle.

"Shauna, I'm sure they'll be all right. Nurse Joy is the best at what she does," Clemont says in an attempt to calm Shauna down.

"What if they aren't though?! What if they can't recover?!" Shauna asks him frantically.

"Then they don't recover, but that doesn't mean their lives are over. There are many Pokémon all over the world that live amazing lives even with disabilities. I know you are worried about Bulbasaur, but trust me when I say that Nurse Joy will be able to get him back to full health," I tell Shauna, placing my hand on her shoulder.

"But-!" she starts to protest, on the verge of hyperventilating.

"No," I interrupt her. I grab her hand and place it on her heart. "Close your eyes. _See_ Bulbasaur right in front of you, perfect in every way that makes him who he is. Feel your heart beat. Now, project your heart beat out to your partner and _listen_ as your hearts beat in time with each other. Slow your breaths, and _feel_ him breathing in time with you. Bulbasaur _will_ be okay, all you have to do is keep calm and _believe_ that your partner will be okay," I instruct her. I watch her carefully to make sure she calms down enough that she isn't in danger of hyperventilating. "Good, now open your eyes and continue to _believe_ that Bulbasaur will be okay," I tell her and she does so.

"Thank you," she tells me quietly.

"This is your first time in this position, isn't it?" I ask.

"Yeah," Shauna admits.

"I remember my first time in your position. I was ten, and I'd only just found Treeko injured in the forest. I was so scared and had never seen a Pokémon so badly injured until then, not even Pikachu on the day we got attacked by Spearow. I actually passed out from hyperventilating while my teacher was healing Treeko. When I woke up though, I was in bed, my teacher tending to my wounds since I had hit my head when I passed out, and Treeko was standing next to me, just as worried for me as I had been for him. That Treeko is now the Sceptile I call my brother, and he still bears the scars from those injuries as one of his only weaknesses. It was an experience I won't forget, and while every time is scary, the first time is always the worst," I tell her.

"It's hard to believe that. You seem… so used to everything that happens around you, it's hard to imagine you as anything else, least of all scared," Shauna tells me.

"Well, it helps that I took out my anger on the Team Rocket grunts that stole your partners in the first place. I almost lost control when I saw their condition, but I've had years to train myself to keep a cool head, but I assure you, I used to be an utter idiot," I told her with laugh in my voice.

"I can vouch for that. Before Ash and I started on our journeys, we were both stupid kids, but he was an utter idiot," Gary piped in.

"And you were an utter egomaniac," I fire back jokingly. Gary just wiggled his eyebrows up and down and Serena grabbed his ear and yanked on it.

"You, Mr. Egomaniac, are going to be watched with sharp eyes to make sure you don't cheat on your girlfriend," Serena comments.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, I would never cheat on Misty! Wouldn't even flirt with another girl!" Gary protests.

"You better not," I tell him, steel in my voice.

"Shauna Sana, Tierno Odori, Trevor Trove, your Pokémon are ready to be collected from the front desk," Nurse Joy announces over the loud speakers. The three of them raced to the front desk to embrace with their partners.

"Looks like everything ended up good," Clemont comments.

"Ow, ow, ow, I would say I agree with you, but I'm still being pulled around by the ear!" Gary complained.

"Oh, sorry Gary, I just forgot that I was holding your ear," Serena says before letting go.

"Bye guys, see you tonight for our battle!" Shauna calls out as the three of them race out to their cabin.

 _~time skip: that night~_

"Alright! Time for the final battle of today, Team Squirtle VS Team Froakie! This battle will decide the winner of the entire camp contest as the two teams are currently tied at thirty-three points each. Trainers, please let your Pokémon onto the field," Professor Sycamore announces.

"Umbreon, let's light our way through the darkness!" Gary called out.

"Fennekin, time to set fire to the fuse!" Serena called out.

"Bunnelby, it's time to show what we're made of!" Clemont called out.

"Squirtle, let's boogie!" Tierno called out.

"Charmander, ready for battle!" Trevor called out.  
"Bulbasaur, let's sweep them off their feet!" Shauna called out.

"Are all trainers ready?" Sophie asks from the side of the battle field. All six of them nod their heads in agreement, and everyone in the stand leans forwards in anticipation. "Alright, battle… BEGIN!"

"Fennekin, use a wide Flamethrower!" Serena commanded at the same time Gary called out "Umbreon, use Dark Pulse!"  
"Bunnelby, use dig just like we talked about!" Clemont instructed a split second later.

"Bulbasaur/Squirtle/Charmander, dodge it!" Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna instructed as one.

The three Kanto starters jumped above the Flamethrower and Dark Pulse, but Bunnelby didn't surface, not that they had any time to really notice that with the onslaught of attacks that Fennekin and Umbreon were unleashing. There was no time for anyone on Team Squirtle to try and start a counter strategy.

"Alright, Bunnelby, use Mud Shot and take out their vision!" Clemont calls out after five minutes of pure chaos causing Fennekin and Umbreon to pause in their attacks.

"Wipe it out of your eyes, Charmander!" Trevor called out.

"You too, Squirtle/Bulbasaur!" Tierno and Shauna called out a second later.

"Umbreon, Flash into Iron Tail!" Gary commanded with glee. The whole area was lit with bright lights, temporarily blinding everyone and when it died down, the whole field on team Squirtle's side was ruined.

"Squirtle, use Rapid Spin!" Tierno tries.

"Not so fast! Knock it back with Psychic!" Gary calls out stopping Squirtle from getting too far.

"You boys ready?" Serena asks with a smirk and they nod in agreement.

"Let's finish this! Use Hidden Power/Mud Bomb/Shadow Ball!" They cried out in unison. The attack was so sudden that no one had time to dodge, and even if they had, the amount of powerful balls of energy that went everywhere on Team Squirtle's side of the field was too much to fully dodge, and it ended in a triple knockout.

"Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur are unable to battle. This means that Team Froakie are the winners and are going to be inducted into the Pokémon Summer Camp Hall of Fame!" Sophie announced.

"We won! We won, we won, we won!" Bonnie chanted as she danced around on her seat, almost falling off in the process.  
"Careful, Bonnie, but yes, we did win," I tell her, ruffling her hair and lifting her onto my shoulders and running down to where the others are celebrating.

"We did it! Our plan worked!" Gary was exclaiming as he ran around in circles, holding up Umbreon in his hands.

"We pulled it off, Bunnelby, we really did it!" Clemont told his partner as he was kneeling on the ground.

"Ash! We won!" Serena called out before tackling me, and kissing me full on the mouth.

"Yuck! I'm right here you two!" Bonnie reminded us from my shoulders.

"Guys, we're going to be in the Hall of Fame. Our song predicted correctly," I mention with a smirk.

"AND WE'LL BE ON THE WALLS OF THE HALL OF FAME!" Clemont sung out (causing everyone to cover their ears from the terrible noise) before stopping. "Okay, now I know why I shouldn't be doing any singing."

"Well done, Team Froakie, you are the newest team to enter the hall of fame. Let's take the photo now," Professor Sycamore announces as Gengar appears behind him. Bonnie can't help but snicker and the professor turns around only to scream in shock, falling on his bottom (and then rolling down the beach) in the process.

"Hello Gengar, you finished with that job, I'm guessing?" I say. Gengar nods his head floats around us for a few moments before jumping into my shadow. "Oi, out of there, I don't want you leaching off my aura right now," I scold him. Gengar does jump back out, with a huge pout on his face, smirks, and then gives me a huge lick, sending shivers up my spine. "Gengar! I thought I just told you _not_ to leach off my aura!" I protest. Gengar shrugs and disappears into his Pokéball just in time for Professor Sycamore to re-join us.

"Let's do this photo now," he attempts again. I snake my hand around Serena's waist with Pikachu on one shoulder and Fennekin on one of Serena's shoulders. Gary crouches down in front of us with Umbreon standing on his head. Clemont holds Bunnelby in one arm and rests his free hand on Bonnie's head while she stands in front of him with her good arm outstretched and supporting Dedenne and Swablue.

"Say 'Summer Time'" Spohie prompts.

"Summer time!" we chime together, and the camera flash goes off.

"Lovely, this should be up by tomorrow morning in the Camp Hall of Fame and we'll give you all copies of it as well," Sophie tells us with a smile.

Fireworks begin to go off and I decided that it would be the perfect time to slow dance on the beach with Serena.

"I thought you said that you can't dance," she whispers in my ear as we move in time with each other. The rest of the world didn't matter. This moment consisted only of Serena, me, and the fireworks.

"I can't. This may be called 'slow dancing' it is really just swaying on the spot with each other, and even a dance-inept person like myself can manage that," I say quietly. Serena giggles softly at that and I decide that I love that giggle. It sounds like soft bells shaking in the breeze. I gaze into her blue eyes and I can tell that her eyes are hooked on mine as well.

"Kiss me?" Serena says it softly, and it is hard to tell if she means it as a question or a command, either way, I lean forward and let my lips meet hers. Her hands reach up to tangle in my hair and my hands ground themselves on her hips as the kiss deepens. When we break apart, we rest our foreheads against each other.

"I wish that this moment could just last forever," I say softly.

"If it did, then everything would be perfect," Serena replies

"Break it up you two, before you traumatise any of the kids in the area," Gary's voice interrupts our moment. Serena and I both turn to face him with a death glare and he gulps before running off. Serena starts laughing and I join in a moment later.

"His face was hilarious, I think he thought that we might kill him," Serena manages to get out.

"I was thinking more along the lines of tormenting him with horrible stories from our childhood in front of his girlfriend," I replied with a smirk.

"Ash, even I know that is simply cruel," Serena tells me jokingly.

The rest of the night is spent with people mucking around on the beach until slowly, everyone makes their way back to their cabins to get some sleep, though the fireworks continue for what seems like hours.

As I rest my head against the support beam that I've made my bed, I look down at Serena's sleeping face and part of me decides in that moment that her parents must have named her while she was asleep after how serene she looks while asleep.

 _Congratulations on your win, my son, but be wary. Yveltal is close to waking._ Father Arceus reminds me, and I take careful note of his warning.

 **A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for such a long wait, but this chapter was fighting me so much and refused to work, but as you can tell, I've gotten here in the end! Clemont's last Pokémon has now been decided on. He will be getting a Togedemaru! Thank you to everyone who voted.**

 **Now, before I give you the current list of OCs, I would like to give a huge shout out to Pikachu564 who has submitted a** _ **lot**_ **of OCs to help the story. Anyways, here are the OCs (ones with an Asterisk are mine): Kirby Hoshi, Lucy Meyer, Melody Reae, Rico Bastian, Coral Rodda*, Auriella 'Aurora' Funke*, Nickolas 'Nick' Funke*, Elizabeth 'Lizzy' d'Lacey*, Chrysanthemum 'Crystal' Paolini*, Emma Wilkinson*, Belladonna 'Bella' Black, Summer O'Hearn*, Louana 'Lou' Lowry*, Orion Riordan*, Astrid Rowling*, Thorn Lochel*, Nettle Lochel*, Char Smith, James Morpurgo*, Nathan Small, Riley Houston, Pietro Nimmo*, Caspar Hawke*, Itachi Orihara, Alex Mallinger, Zeke Arachnera, Zero Ice, Soul Matter, Lucki Middling, Data Analogy (Dirk Waltson), Lucky Rose, Zack Exile, Milla Synthesis, Jude Fury, Cindy Mikki, Waddle Spear, Taryn Element, Brooks Element, Kindle Spirit, Ribbon Shard, and Pipin Duffy.**

 **Thanks for reading this, and I hope that it was worth the wait! Oh, and Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you may be celebrating!**

 **RebeccaMagic9**


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